This is the article that I was referring to. It is taken with permission from the ClickerSolutions Yahoo Group. I thought it was EXCELLENT advice!
I managed this in our house by teaching a very strong "leave it" cue
with the new dog (this was almost 2 years ago now). I started with
the Doggie Zen thing, letting him grab at my closed hands full of
treats until he gave up, then feeding him a treat. Then food on the
floor, then food held in front of his face, etc.
In the meantime he spent a whole lot of time tethered to me. We
walked past kitties at a distance and practiced, "Leave it" when he
acted like he was interested in them. When he responded to my cue
instead of the kitty, he got treats. I wore a treat bag.
One of my cats is clicker trained, so nearly every afternoon I would
tether the dog to the piano, and sit on the floor with the cat
outside the dog's reach and do clicker stuff with the cat. If the
dog pitched a fit, I paid him no attention, and if he calmed down I
tossed him a bit of cheese. Eventually I could alternate cues
between the two, a Gimme 5 for the cat, a gimme 5 for the dog. And
after a while the pup could play the clicker game with the cat
without being tied to the piano!
We did this for a few weeks, with the cats still making a big fuss
and running whenever the dog and I passed, but once I got to where
the dog would turn back and look at me on cue instead of lunging at
the end of the leash after the cats, I let him off lead around them.
One great day, I saw a cat tear off, tail fluffed out, a very
tempting target, and the dog started to go after him. I said, "Leave
it!" and the dog did a neat little U-Turn and came to me for a
treat. I was treatless, so we ran happily to the kitchen and cashed
in.
As soon as this happened a couple of times, the cat realized
that "AHA!" When she says, "Leave it!" the dog turns around. The
cat started chasing the dog.
From that point on, the dog and BOTH cats have been friends, even
though one of the cats wasn't involved in the above training system.
Kellie
www.behaviorlogic.com
[Thanks, Kellie, for permission to cross-post!].