cat meets dog

Question
I have introduced a dog into my home and my cat just can't get used to him. They are both about three years old and the dog just wants to play. Every time he (dog) gets close she attacks him. What can i do to calm her down and make this a more livable situation?

Answer
Rich,

I'll bet that they are playing.  Cats and dogs have very tough skins and play incredibly roughly with litter mates, even as little puppies and kittens.  So, what I would do is to ignore them.  Do not intervene.   Let them figure out the bounds and how they want to play with each other.  Please be careful not to ascribe human motives and emotions to their activities and inter-relationships.

Any human intervention will be counter-productive and will elongate the getting to know each other process.  Remember at age 3 these two are fairly set in their ways and this is new territory for both, so it may take a bit of time (many weeks or even months for things to really settle down.  They really are not going to hurt each other (although they both could inflict heavy damage on the other).  I'll bet there has been no serious hurt dealt from one to the other!

Be patient and see what develops.

Best regards... Norm.