new dog/3 cats - can they live together?

Question
dear hilary,

i have a boyfriend with a cute jack russel type  dog who has her own yard and has not had much contact with dogs, let alone cats.  she is about 2-3 years old and is very sweet and playful.

i own 3 male neutered cats, one of whom is 3yrs old and the other two are 11 and  13 years old but still fairly active.  they spat with each other and have the regular playful, sometimes rough fight for dominance.  

my boyfriend and i plan to move in together and he is VERY reluctant to allow his dog to come in contact with the cats.  he is afraid the cats will scratch her eyes, or that bloodshed of some sort will result. (his boyhood dog lost and eye to a catfight).   foolishly, i tried a couple of months ago to bring his dog to my house and my boyfriend and i  stayed present in the garden and supervised the interaction.  the animals were allowed to roam freely, and everything was going fine until the move inside the house - the cats surrounded the dog and she felt trapped.  though no one was hurt, there was a spat that involved barking, hissing and swatting.  

as a result of this event, my boyfriend feels that his dog and my cats will not learn to live peacefully together in the same home.  i know of many instances where cats and dogs can be trained to "tolerate" one another, but have no personal experience with this and want to look at the options.  

my boyfriend is willing to consider living together but keeping them separate forever, whereas, i think we may be able to very slowly introduce them over time.  any and ALL suggestions and warnings would be welcome.  thank you so much for your time.

viddy

Answer
Hi Viddy!  Oh don't you worry one bit!  It will definitely take alot more time for them to get along than a day.  There is absolutely no reason that they won't all accept eachother and get along in due time.  They just need to "duke it out" to see who the alpha pet will be.  
As for the cats scratching out the dog's eyes...well, your boyfriend is traumatized to have seen that happen, one can only understand his concern.
To put him at peace, why not try Soft Paws?  They are sold at pet stores all over.  They are tiny claw covers that glue onto the cat's nails.  It lasts for 6 weeks at a time and are EXTREMELY helpful.  This prevents the cat from scratching things and is used every day as an alternative to declawing.  This way, your animals can all get aquainted and your cats can swat with no scratches or missing eyes.
It will take weeks until they are all fully used to eachother.  Keeping them separated won't help much, as they will still be smelling eachother's scents and at one time or another, one of the cats is bound to get out of his restricted area.  
If you are planning on moving in together, start preparing the pets now. Put those claw covers on and have your boyfriend regularly bring his dog over for short periods of time.  As the time to move in grows closer, elongate the doggie/kittie visits to gradually move them together.  Take a blanket and rub it on your cats...have him take a blanket and rub it on his dog...put his blanket in your home, where the cats can get used to the dog's smell...and have him put your blanket with his dog.  Every time a visit is taking place...have the blankets present.  Before the visit ends, replenish the scents.  The main problem between pets is the different scent.  Once they get used to that particular scent, the hostility is gone.
Here is a link to the soft paws if you're interested in checking it out: http://www.softpaws.com/
I hope this helps and please let me know how it goes.
Best of luck,
Hilary