Kitten aggressive toward dog
I have a 5 yr old Pomapoo and recently got a 2-3 month old kitten. They were getting along pretty well for the first few days, but now the kitten has become increasingly aggressive with the dog. From what I've read, this is normal play-fighting--- sneaking up on him and pouncing, hanging onto one of his legs and biting him... but it makes me uneasy. I worry that the kitten will hurt the dog. The dog is very calm for the most part, chasing the kitten on occasion but never hurting him or biting at him. Most of the time he is content to just lay down and watch the kitten play, or sniff him and walk away.
When the kitten bites him and hangs on, the dog just tries to shake him off or runs away, or looks up at me as though I should do something to help him. Last night the kitten bit onto a tuft of hair on the dogs face- the dog stiffened up, and circled around while the kitten swung from his face.
I don't like them playing this way, and it doesn't seem the dog enjoys it much either. What can I do to discourage this type of behavior in the kitten? Will it just automatically stop as he gets older and once he is neutered, or is there something I must do now to nip this in the bud and prevent it from becoming a worse problem? Never had a cat before, so I'm really kind of clueless on this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!