our dog & a new kitten

Question
we have a 5 year old well-loved chow/shepherd cross dog named Bandit.  She was an only 'child' till about 2 1/2 weeks ago, when I acquired an 8-9 week old 1/2 Siamese/1/2 barncat kitten.  We have tried for 2 weeks now to acquaint them in a positive manner.  Bandit initially was quite hostile, and snarled & lunged at the kitten.  The kitten remained rather unpeturbed.  We tried giving the dog treats & lots of attention while the kitten was around, but still she would lunge & snarl at her (my husband held on to her with her collar).  It has been 2 weeks now, and its been consistently the scenario that when I or my husband brings the kitten out to meet her, Bandit will roughly sniff her bottom & face while the kitten pats Bandits snout gently with her extended paws (claws sheathed) and then Bandit will become extremely agitated and run to her dish & eat voraciously.  She then asks very intensely to go outside. The cat remains calm.  
Any suggestions?  Do we keep on with the encounters till (hopefully) the dog gets tired of the agitation/tension and wants to be friends?  The cat has obviously expressed a desire to play (probably rather naively, as Bandit is 90 pounds, and the kitten perhaps 1 lb!)
PS  You can post this on the Message Board - I don't know what I did wrong to change it to 'no"....

Answer
I have good answers to many problems, but not this one.  I have known people that bragged that they could do it, but their answers were short on details about how.  Bandit is a mature 5 and was doing well without a kitten.  She may be showing some of her herding heritage by protecting the pack from this vermin you have introduced.  Some dogs and cats do get along.  When I am out walking my dog, the one neighbor's cat comes right up to us and sniffs the dog.

What you are doing sounds a workable as anything I can think of.  Bandit may become more accepting of the kitty in time.  The only thing I can think of them might help would be to work on your relationship of Bandit. The top dogs have the right to introduce a new pack member, even a strange smelling little vermin. The dogs see all the
people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in
the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members
outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by
reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class
or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with
a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/   Bandit will welcome the attention she gets with the obedience training.