Marie,
at one point not too long ago, we had 7 dogs and 3 cats in this household and several canine visitors from time-to-time. The dogs that lived here, grew up with the cats so they respected them and let them alone. Every puppy that has ever been bred here spent the first 8 weeks of their lives with cats and so there was never any issue having them move into families with cats.

When we rescued Marion Louise -- a street dog -- we had some concerns about how she would react to the cats. The first evening she stayed in our house, she had finally realized that she could sit on the couch with me and so she had crawled up there and OJ, our youngest cat, jumped onto the top of the back of the couch, laid down and placed his paw on Marion Louise. She accepted that act of trust the way we had hoped she would and she and OJ were fast friends for the rest of their lives.

The thing about this household is that there is a true alpha male and a true alpha "bitch" that all the animals can relate to: me and Linda. I don't say that lightly -- when you have a large, complex pack, you need clear direction and these guys get it from us. We are with them full-time since we work out of the house. None of the animals have ever felt the urge to "depose" us as the leaders of the pack. In fact, we make their lives much easier because they only have to be dogs and cats.

Jim