Have 2 Cats and Hubby wants a Puppy!?!

Question
I read an article you responded to and it sounded a lot like my question but my situation is different. I have 2 female full blooded Siamese cats they are just about 2 years old. We have had them since they they were 11 weeks old, and they are litter mates. They are soooo sweet and loving...they particularly love each other! We have had no problems with them what so ever. They are both very mild mannered and easy going. My husband has always....and I mean always wanted a dog. My aunt has a male Chihuahua and she recently bread him and got a pick of the litter. She wants to give him to us, he is 8 weeks old and he is a male miniature chihuahua. My husband has fallen in love with him and so have I. I grew up having a Pekinese (he still lives with my parents) so I know the in's and out's of taking care of a small dog. I am willing to get the dog, but I am soooo scared my cats will hate him and try to shred him to bits.  He only weighs 3 pounds, and they both weigh 10 pounds a piece.

Can you tell me if these breeds will get along with each other? Have you heard if anyone has made this work? I don't want to disturb the dog or my girls, and I want to make the right decision. Any advice would be great. What would be the best plan to get them adjusted to each other?

By the way....my cats were raised from birth to 11 weeks old with a cocker spaniel but that was almost 2 years ago and they haven't seen a dog since.

Thanks for your help!
Rena

Answer
Hi Rena;
I can only tell you my experiences and those of people I know that have had cats and dogs together.
I have always dared to mix them, and have had little problems.
I got my daughter a Siamese kitten for her 5th birthday, and I had a 5 year old German shepherd that loved everything. She never bother any animals of other species, but that kitten, at 8 weeks old, say my dog and decided she was goping to kill it.
she wouild flog into Lady, and Lady would lie down and shield her eyes, and let the kitten flail at her.
She tried to make friends with it, but it was not having any.
I told the kids to not play with the kitten. If she wanted to play, she had to play with Lady.
When she jumped in their lap and hissed at Lady, they would tell her she was a bad girl and put her down.
In just about a week she was romping with Lady.
this 100 pound German shephers and a kitten that didn't quite weigh a pound would romp and chase all over my house.

When my sister died, I had to bring her cat home with me, because no one else could take her. She had never seen a dog, except out the window, but she was a little afraid of my 4 dogs.
My husband put a gate, made of some plastic coated wqire racks from Home Depot, the kind you use for shelving. He put it across the door of the laundry room closet. There was enough space between the shelf of the closet and the gate for the cat to jump in and out, but not enough for the dogs to get in there.
We knew that dogs wouldn't hurt her, but we wanted her to have a place she could come and go as she pleased, and feel safe.
When she was in there, the dogs would come to the gate and she would sniff them through it.
It took three days of sniffing before she only went into her space to eat, she drank out of the dogs' bowl. So, we took her food dish out and put it where the dogs ate.
She had her meals right beside the dogs, and romped with the dogs.
Sometimes she would chase them, sometimes they would chase her, but she would fall down on her back, and the dogs would stop and cuddle her, love on her, and she had 4 slaves.
Wityh the puppy bing that young, introducing them sloqwly should give them time to get used to each other.
Hold the puppy so the cats can snif it without feeling threatened, and they puppy can't be scratched.
It shouldn't take long to put them all at ease.
The puppy will want to play sometimes when the cats won't, so they should have some place they can go and nap or just be out of reach of the puppy.
Since the puppy is with a family member, how about bringing to do home a few times first, and introducing them to the cats? That would give them all a sense of safety, and would give them time to get aquainted before they were all in the same house all the time.
Charlotte