It was November and I had spent 3 months searching for just the right puppy. Finally we had found what we considered to be the perfect one. Luckily she was already 7 weeks old so she could already be separated from her mother. I was so excited when we brought her home, our new addition to the family. I made sure I had all the required supplies; food and water dishes, food, a bed and a crate. We were ready. The fact that we already had a cat never really caused me much concern. I figured they would give each other a good sniff and surely it would not take long for them to become the best of friends and live happily ever after. I had visions of our little puppy all curled up with our cat in front of the fireplace.

Reality hit when I walked into our house carrying a crate with our newest family member inside. Our dog is a female so I will use she when referring to a dog. The cat seemed a little curious so in a moment of obvious brain freeze I took the puppy out of the crate to introduce the two. Our cat in a split second armed herself for battle. The hair was straight up making her look like I had just taken her out of the dryer and she started hissing and growling as if her opponent was a rottweiler rather than a puppy that could fit in my hand. The poor puppy could barely walk so she just fell into a ball and shivered and whimpered. I