[greyhound gets along great with cats unless laying down]

Just now, Bizeebee said:

This sounds more like the cat needs to learn, rather than the dog. A hound may never outgrow this sleep-startle-like behavior. Maybe a squirt gun (for the cat) as well as the muzzle for safety?

Yeah, it's definitely that the cat needs to learn, but I wasn't sure if there was anything I could do to help on the other end too.  

[greyhound gets along great with cats unless laying down]

3 hours ago, palmettobug said:

Johnny had this--the cats would come up, sniff his feet, or face, get snarked at (but he wouldn't step on the cat if they were ON the bed, go figure). My current boy Gino is a little more touchy, he will jump up and snark and bark. The cats must learn that the bed is sacred for the greys. Keep using the muzzle until you feel confident that everyone has learned their place.

Some cats, it does take an incident to learn better. Gino protects his food bowl from the cats, but not from me. My two girls have learned well. My boy, Archie, had to learn the hard way and is healing a broken foreleg right now. Do I blame Gino? No, because Archie did not learn from the prior snarks and barks, and Mom's scolding him.

 

2 hours ago, ramonaghan said:

This. Sweep's like Johnny, including the fact that she won't bother a cat if it's on her bed first . We've had her almost 7 years and always had cats. Henry and Olive learned quickly not to approach her, whereas the latest arrival, Momo, is more stubborn (dumb he's not, he just likes pushing the boundaries). Fortunately it has never escalated to a bite, but sometimes a low growl isn't enough for Momo so Sweep ends up lunging and barking. The cat will learn, but definitely muzzle in the meantime.

Thank you, guys.  I've picked up a muzzle for her so we can keep the danger to a minimum until they get used to each other.  

[greyhound gets along great with cats unless laying down]

I brought home a new Greyhound earlier this week, she's been wonderful so far and actually tolerates our cats very well for the most part.  However, when she is laying down she clearly doesn't want the cats in her space, especially near her head.  Our one cat gets the point easily and I don't think we'll have any problems with the two of them, but our second cat is a bit dumb or slow to catch on.  He doesn't seem to understand that her growls are a sign of displeasure and he should back off.  
At this point I am unsure what the best way to deal with this is.  I don't want to scold her for growling because I don't want her to stop giving warning signs.  On the other hand I can't guarantee that the cat wont continue being stupid and I'd hate for her to go after him and us have a dangerous situation on our hands.  

Does anyone have any advice on how I can help make her more comfortable sharing her space while she is laying down?  I think in the long run the cat wont want to get in her face once he is properly used to her, but he is a face sniffer when he gets to know you, and with her being so tall that is only working out for him when she is laying down.  I guess I just feel unsure how best to proceed so we can overcome this hurdle.