We are due to bring home our Golden Retriever puppy in three weeks time but we are not sure how to introduce the puppy to our much loved and spoilt cat.  The cat is quite well travelled and always comes with us if we go to stay with family etc and is fine with their dogs, but I have no idea how she will react to a dog coming into her house. 

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Hi, have a look in the "behaviour" section there is a thread going at the moment on exactly the same thing. HTH.xxx

I've been through exactly the same thing with my dogs. What we did is held the puppy as the cat walked around him. The cat was about the same size as my puppy when he was eight weeks old. Basically they get a sniff and become interested. Do this over and over again throughout the day slowly making the length of time the dog and cat are together longer. Then when they are a bit better with each other let the puppy out of your arms (this could take a couple of weeks)! The cat may get annoyed with the puppy's behaviour but sometimes you've got to let nature take it's toll. The cat will probably give it a swipe. Blood will be drawn. There will be a yelp and from there on the puppy will know not to go agitating the cat!