Trouble in Paradise

The other night we were taking Sasha for a walk and encountered the bravest little kitty you have every seen. The cat just headed towards Sasha with confidence and not an inkling of fear of this much larger animal in front of her. She must have been a street cat used to encountering dogs and secure in her ability to kick their buts if she needed to. The cat was adorable, Sasha's reaction to her was not. Her ears perked up, she crouched and went in for a lunge. CornyT had to hold her back with the leash and I shooed the cat away who either wanted to play or more or wanted to finish the fight because she kept coming towards the dog. If I hadn't worried so much about her safety I would have let the cat scratch Sasha to teach her a lesson but there was no guarantee Sasha wouldn't get in a lucky bite. Needless, to say this began to give us pause about adding Sasha to our 2 person, one cat household permanently. We have kept Livia and Sasha seperated mostly for the last 3 weeks. In response to this behavior, we have been evaluating her with the cat for the last few nights. We place Livia in the room with Sasha in her crate and let them see eachother and be close without any danger. The first night Sasha banged up against the cage to get at her but last night she just watched her attentively. I don't if it is going to work and I know I wish Sasha was a little more playful. She could careless about tug of war or hide and seek. mmm can you train for that?