Introducing a cat to a dog

I have been wanting to get a dog for a while and I was wondering how best to introduce a cat to a dog. I haven't ever had a dog in the apartment so I'm not sure how Tom is with dogs. If I adopt(still in the looking stages) its going to be a mediam size dog, most likely a Coonhound mix or Beagle. And one of my first stimpulations is the dog must be good with cats for obvious reasons. So any advice on how to make this work?

More like introducing the dog to the cat. The dog is the newcomer after all and must pay respects to the lord, resident cat.
I recently got a dog, the cats don't like him much so they keep away. The more aggressive kitties tend to put the dog in its place by hissing and sometimes bonking him on the nose.
Over all, the animals kind of decided how to get along.

I'm just worried about fighting and stuff. Tom seem's very territorial but that was with another cat so this might be different. He's not overly agressive and hardly ever hisses, the only time i've heard him do it is when he's at my parent's house and my mom is bugging him.

I live in a one bedroom apartment so coexisting with out paying attention to eachother isn't really possible with the amount of space we have, but I want to try. I think I am going to go down to the animal shelter today and bring Tom with me that way they can interact before I take her or him home. Something else i thought about doing was faustering instead of adopting that way if it doesn't work I don't have to feel as bad.

I'll move this to Cats & other Animals for you.

My biggest concern is that you have posted regarding moving and financial issues. I'm not sure if adopting a dog at this point is really the best idea.

The only advice I have is do not get any kind of hound or beagle if you live in an apartment. That's the worst idea ever. Beagles are barkers/bayers and if you have any respect for your neighbors you will not do that to them.

You should really research the breed and see what dog would do well in an apartment. Trust me, beagles are not one of them.

I think I am going to go down to the animal shelter today and bring Tom with me that way they can interact before I take her or him home.

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This is another terrible idea. Why in the world would you take your cat into a shelter that carries diseases like URI? And expose your cat to that. Not to mention Tom isn't going to like ANY dog you bring home. So taking him into a shelter to meet a strange dog is pointless.

When I brought my dog home my cat HATED him. In time they grew to tolerate eachother then love eachother. It was not an easy process.

My DH and I are also considering adopting a puppy in the near future, but our situatio is alot different as we are in a large house of our own and can restrict the puppy to one room at first. Everything I've read says that you should confine your new pet to one room for quite a while, allowing your cat to hear the noises and smell the scent of the new animal without actually interacting with it. Gradually, over a period of weeks, you can start to let the two animals see each other by cracking the door open for a bit, and progress slowly to letting them smell each other and interact a little at a time. It sounds like a long process, but I'm sure it's worth it in the end to have a dog and cat that like each other rather than hate one another!

Yeah I wouldn't recommend a hound or beagle or a terrier. I adore them, but a lot of the hounds/beagles in shelters may have been trained to hunt and have a high prey drive.

My hound and terrier LOVE cats but they are good to Miagi & Tiger and wouldn't hurt them. Not every dog especially hounds or terriers are good with cats. Have the dog tested at the shelter or rescue you are adopting them from. The only reason Buster our hound is good with cats is because he grew up with Miagi as a puppy, Rudy our terrier mix chases them but doesn't hurt them. I would suggest you look into other breeds unless the shelter/rescue KNOWS for a fact they are good with cats.