when our now-late sheltie, sarah, was a puppy, our cat, penny, had her second litter, and she was so neurotic about protecting them that we put sarah in a big cage when the kittens were downstairs. they wanted to go in and play with her, and there was much communicating between the thin bars. when they were big enough, sarah had the run of the house again and the kittens were her besties. now the two who loved her best, and she herself, are gone. we have a young dog, ramona, who is much smaller than a sheltie, and somewhat smaller than the father of those kittens, tevye. he's 15 now, and his surviving kids are 14. penny is 16 and a half. the dog will be two this month, and she loves tevye because he puts his arm around her and kisses her. she goes to him and begs for it. she even lets him sleep in her bed -- sometimes with her, sometimes alone, sometimes with his younger daughter, kuma. he has ramona trained! cats and dogs don't have to be enemies )

g