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

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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?

Yin and Yang

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I often think that old saying, “Opposites attract” has a lot to do with the Yin and Yang of life. The light and the dark, the good and the bad, the funny and the serious, they complement each other.

If someone were to look at the physical and personality characteristics of my dogs, they’d pretty much determine they are as opposite as two dogs can be. Sampson is peanut butter, and Delilah is chocolate. A perfect food combination, and a striking pair of dogs.

While the general Labrador personality is goofy and fun, the thing I like most about Labs is they each have their own, unique personality.

Delilah is Yin. She is darker in color, harder to train, stubborn, impatient, demanding, naughty.

Sampson is Yang.  He is lighter in color, easy to train, easy-going, patient, gentle, social, obedient.

Some would say, old soul, new soul. I guess it just depends on your philosophy.

I was reminded of the Yin and Yang yesterday morning, when I was preparing breakfast for Sampson and Delilah.

I looked over, and there was Sampson, patiently waiting for me to finish the prep, and serve him.

Where was Delilah?

Why in a perfect heel, right next to my leg.

Of course, I picked up the phone, and took the photos, smiling all the while.

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

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

The Love of a Dog

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My apologies for not getting this post up earlier. As I mentioned in Sunday’s post, my vacation was spent with my grandchildren and my great niece.

My niece flew back last night. I took her to the airport with plenty of time for her flight, just about an hour and a half. We got her checked in, and went to security. The wait time was 15 minutes. We managed to move about 20 feet, when the line stopped completely. She started getting nervous, because the line just wasn’t moving. As the hands of the clock crept closer and closer to her boarding time, with still no movement, I myself began to feel anxious.

Thankfully, once the line started moving, it went rather quickly, and we made it to her gate with time to spare.

We’d no sooner settled in, when they made the announcement the flight would be delayed, due to delay of the incoming plane.

Since my niece was an unaccompanied minor (she’s 8), the adult who is dropping her off needs to stay at the gate until the flight is in the air. This is precautionary, in case the plane needs to remain on the ground, has mechanical issues or is delayed or cancelled for any reason.

The flight finally got in the air about an hour late, and I headed home. Hubby had gotten everyone’s dinner ready, so I fed the dogs and then we ate.

Hubby doesn’t walk the dogs, and we debated walking them together, but I don’t feel like it’s fair to either one, so I decided to take them one at a time.

There was lots of lightening in the air, with some rumbles of thunder, so I knew the walk would be quick. When I’m really pressed for time, I follow the poop rule. Once they poop, it’s safe to turn around. 🙂

As we were walking into the driveway, one of the young boys from next door saw us.  Their grandmother lives next to us, and for about three or four years they lived with her. Then their Mom bought a house in town, and they moved away. While they lived next door, they developed a love affair with the dogs, specifically Sampson. Any time they see him outside, they run over to pet him.

This photo was taken almost three years ago. It is the youngest brother, just chilling on the lawn with Sampson.

It was after 8:00, and due to the thunder and lightening, it was on the darker side. The oldest boy saw us walking in the drive, and yelled “Sampson!”, then he came running. Sampson turned and got a huge smile on his face when he saw him.

He lay down in the driveway, and waited for some petting. After a few minutes of petting, the boy called to his mom to get his younger brother, and he came running as well.

We really didn’t talk much, we just sat there in the driveway, surround by the heat of summer, with thunder rumbling in our ears, lightening flashing in our eyes, sharing the love of a dog.

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