My dog chases cats? help!

[reigninseattle]

So I have a litter of kittens that are now 6 weeks old. I want to introduc3 them to my dogs (I have 3) but I'm not really sure how. I'm not too worried about our 2 larger dogs, but my lab/dachshund mix I am very worried about. He likes to chase cats and is VERY intense about it. I tried to do an intro with him and the kittens earlier today, I put him in his crate then let the kittens wander around on the floor outside the crate. I was hoping if I just stayed relaxed and let them see each other they would eventually relax. Well Bugzy (the dog) just stared at them intently the whole time, which made the kittens nervous. I couldn't even get him to look away from the kittens, and he was trembling he was so tense. I thought he might be a little better with kittens than with adult cats, but that wasn't the case, and I definitely didn't expect him to be so bad! I definitely got a "if you let me out, I will attack the kittens" vibe. Also now I'm scared the kittens will forever be scared of dogs! Does anyone here have any experience with this kind of situation? Is there anything I can do, or will my dog never be able to live with cats?

 

[wumpwumpus]

This is definitely a situation where you want to be cautious and pay close attention to your dog's and kittens' body language. It sounds like your dog has a really high prey drive and sees your kittens as prey. If you're not careful someone could get hurt, so it may be safest to keep the kittens and dog separate.

If you do want to try and introduce them, I'd say your best bet is to consult a professional dog trainer. I would give you advice but I only have one dog, and she does like to chase my cats and I have trained her to behave, but I don't have the experience or training to safely advise you. I will say that I think almost any undesirable behavior can be trained out of a dog, you just have to know how to do it, and the pros will know exactly what to do. Good luck!

 

[reigninseattle]

I'm hoping to consult a professional trainer, but in the meantime I wanted to see if anyone here had dealt with a similar situation and gotten through it. He definitely has a high prey drive (he catches and kills moles in our yard and chases anything that moves, besides dogs and people). He has absolutely zero chance of coming in contact with the kittens. Today he was locked in his crate and had no chance to contact the kittens, and they actually don't even live in the same building, the dogs live in the house and the kittens and mama cat reside in our camper (don't worry, we spend lots of time with them) but since they are becoming more mobile I would like to move them into the spare bedroom where there is a bit more room. That way Missy would also be able to roam the house when the dogs are locked outside while we're gone during the day, if I put up a baby gate or somthing so the kittens couldn't get out of the bedroom.
I would really like to introduce the kittens to the dogs because at least 3 of them are going to homes with dogs, but i may just have to do that with our other 2 dogs for now. I was surprised because, even though he has always chased cats, he has never actually tried to hurt them, and I kind of got the feeling that he would hurt the kittens.
I would like him to eventually at least tolerate cats, since I have grown very attached to Missy and when I move out next year I would like to take them both with me.