Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Cat People…Is This Normal?

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Our encounters with off-leash dogs, e-fence dogs, and DADO’s are the stuff legends are made of. Okay, maybe that’s just in my mind, but some days, I feel like a God damn gladiator maneuvering my neighborhood with my dogs.

Last Friday we had an encounter with a neighborhood cat, and when I started looking through my dash board, for a post to reference this particular cat, I realized, we’ve also had a fair share of cat encounters as well.

One in particular is the cat two houses up. His name is Simba. You may recall him. When he was just a tiny kitten, he stalked my dogs on one of their walks.

Then there was the time Delilah treed him. **Side note, I recently found out from that neighbor that she paid someone $50 to get the cat out of the tree. I thought he came down on his own. Oops.

Delilah likes chasing cats

.

Simba is a born hunter. Honestly, I see this cat catching all kinds of small rodents. I even saw him with a squirrel once. The dang thing was bigger than he was, but there he was dragging it home.

Simba is a typical cat. Curious. Apparently being treed didn’t stick with him, because about two months ago, I walked outside and found him on the roof of my mother’s car, attempting to jump onto my small porch. You know, the one with the sliding door I keep open for the dogs in nice weather?

Go ahead, I’ll give you a minute to picture what would happen if Simba managed to make it onto the porch, and continue inside to the house.

Anyway, about that cat. He’s pretty bold. I mean, I know cats are supposed to be independent and all, but I thought there was a cat gene, that told cats to stay clear of dogs. If there is, Simba is missing this cat gene.

I was walking Delilah. Due to her Endothelial Decompensation, she doesn’t see as well as she used to. I can’t say with certainty, but based on my observations, I suspect she sees shadows. Because of this, she tends to walk a lot with the curb of the road on one side of her. She still wanders off onto grass, etc…but there have been many a time when she’s walked right into a small branch or stick in the road.

So there we were, walking up the street, when I see Simba getting ready to cross the street about 75 feet in front of us. Delilah was sniffing so I said, “Go Simba, go. Cross the street.”

What did the damn cat do? He sat right the fuck down, right there on the side of the road, and he stared at me.

Siriusly.

Delilah usually crosses to the Simba side of the street, (we walk against traffic), but I managed to keep her from crossing, and we passed the damn cat without her noticing. I kept my eye on that little shit, because I think he was really considering a challenge.

Don’t throw down the gauntlet to Delilah, Simba, you just might find yourself up another tree.

We’ve had cats in our house before, and the cats have always tried to be friendlier to the dogs, than the dogs are to them, but I was totally surprised that Simba didn’t seem to have any fear of Delilah.

So please, those of you with cats….is this normal cat behavior?

Well Played Delilah, Well Played

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Due to Delilah’s Endothelial Decompensation, she doesn’t see very well. I often times forget this, until she stares at me, but she’s not actually looking AT me.

She’s ‘looking’ at me, but I’m actually more towards her right.

Because of her trouble seeing, most walks Delilah walks quite closely to the curb. On our walks there are many times where she doesn’t see a small branch in her way, and plows through it, or doesn’t see the sewer grate and comes close to stepping on it.

This past week one of our friends was out on her bike, and saw us, so she rode over and called hello. Delilah heard her and turned toward her, but didn’t see the bike, so when the bike suddenly was right there, she jumped.

As you know, we live in the DADO capital of the world, and I constantly have to be on the watch for the e-fence dogs who come charging at us, barking their heads off. The last thing I want is to be too close to a yard and have a barking dog startle Delilah.

There is one Golden Retriever in our neighborhood, that scares the crap out me when she’s out. I will watch for her, but sometimes she’s in her backyard, and when she hears us, she comes flying towards us, barking incessantly.

This was the case yesterday morning.

Thankfully, Delilah and I were on the other side of the street, when Bailey came flying at us, barking. It was about 7:00 am, and I made sure to say, “Jesus Christ” very loudly. Usually the owner is pretty quick to call Bailey back, but not yesterday.

Yesterday Bailey kept barking.

So I looked down at Delilah who was walking nonchalantly along the curb. She never even turned to look at Bailey. She slowed down to sniff, then stopped to pee, all directly across from Bailey. That’s when I noticed the hair was up along her back.

I figured what Delilah was doing was the doggie equivalent to flipping the middle finger.

And I smiled to myself, with a silent nod to her, and a “Well played Delilah, well played.”

You make me smile (or laugh,) the sweet, funny, loving things my dogs do that bring a smile to my face, or a laugh to my lips.

What did your pet do that made you smile or laugh this week?

Gather Around the Water Bowl

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Delilah is a water bowl whore. Hubby thinks it’s because she doesn’t get a lot of water when she drinks, I think she’s using the water to make herself feel full. I don’t know who’s right, (although I do suspect it’s me) 🙂  All I know is just before and just after meal time, if you put a gallon of water in the bowl, she will drink it.

Because Delilah thinks the water bowl is the Field of Dreams, when we put water in it, we only put in as much as we want her to drink.

Once the initial gorging is over, you can add more water, but you want to make sure a good ten minutes or so have past.

Every morning when I’m washing up the dog’s breakfast dishes, I wash their water bowl too, and then I put just enough water in it, to let Delilah quench her thirst, without drinking too much.

Because of this ritual, there have been mornings where I forgot to add more water, and I’ve actually gone to work and then realized I didn’t fill the bowl. I’ve had to call my sister to come over and give the dogs water.

I’ve written before about how Sampson handles the situation when there is no water in the bowl. Most times he digs at the bowl with his paw. Since it’s a metal bowl, his nails make a definite sound on it.

I think his method might depend on how thirsty he is, because most times he waits patiently by the bowl for someone to fill it.

Friday morning I went down to see mom without putting more water in the bowl.

Sometimes he tips the bowl over.

MOM! The Dog-Gone water bowl is empty again!!

Do you remember the time his ear was resting in the water?

This photo was also taken when he was sporting his Zombie eye.

No matter what he’s doing around that water bowl, odds are, I’m laughing about it.

You make me laugh, or smile. The sweet, funny, loving things my dogs do that make me laugh or smile.

What did your pet do this week that made you laugh or smile?

 

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