LIVING WITH DOGS AND CATS

 

 

Almost all my life, as far back as I can remember, I had dogs.  As a kid I had two hounds that would hunt rabbits.  As an adult I had German Shepherds.  A shepherd makes a great companion for an outdoors man. Mine would ride in the truck with me, ride in the boat with me, accompany me camping and walking in the woods.  Each, in their turn, was protective of home and family.

 

Living with dogs is like living with a very young child that adores you.  Dogs, are like people; some are smarter than others.  Shepherds are especially smart.  They are easily taught to sit, to stay and they are naturally protective of the family.   Shepherds make good police dogs, war dogs and cadaver dogs because of their wish to please their humans and they have basic intelligence.   Dogs are trainable, but they don’t problem solve.

 

We adopted our first cat when I was fifty-three years old.  It was a three-year-old Maine Coon Cat.  We were in Alaska teaching school and had to move into an old one room log cabin that had been vacant for a couple of decades.  The cabin was full of vermin, so on our next trip into Fairbanks we decided to get a cat.   Being a dog person, the cat had to train me.

 

Cats don’t love you like a dog.   Cats will live with you and they will tolerate you, and if you are good to them they may even like being with you - when they feel like it.   My first cat, Hobby, loved being with me, but on his terms.  There was a constant interaction as to who was alpha.  You don’t tell a can NO; because he will find that a challenge. If you try to correct a cat, he will turn his butt to you as if to say, ‘Fuck you.  Now go fill my food bowl and empty my potty.’   If you are a controlling person, you shouldn’t have a cat – the cat will be miserable and you won’t like the cat - get a dog.

 

Dogs are trainable; but cats are their own people. Cats can problem solve.  When we moved into our new house last year, we got new food bowls and water bowls for each of our cats.  We kept finding food nuggets floating in the younger, five-year-old, cat’s water bowl.  After watching her for a while I realized, that because of the color of the bowl, she couldn’t see the surface of the water when she wanted to drink, so she would push her food bowl over by her water bowl, pick up a piece or two of food with her paw, drop it in the water where it would float, and then she would drink.    This is problem solving.  Something dogs can’t do.    If you watch a cat that has its own autonomy, they constantly problem solve.

  

If you are willing to live with a cat and not try to control the cat, they will make a good companion.  But if you are not willing to respect a cat – you should get a dog.

Our old girl - ten years old

 

The problem solver - What do you mean I shouldn't be on the table?

I can fit in this bowl.

What's the big deal?   The bowl was empty.

Don't pay any attention to her.   She's a brat.

the Ol’Buzzard

 

 

 

DOGS AND CATS

The dog excitedly looks out the window at his returning master and says:

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, she’s coming home!  I love her so much.

The cat says:

There she is.  It’s about fucking time.  My food bowl is empty and my litter box needs cleaning.  

the Ol'Buzzard

DOG BITCHING

I am not an anti-dog person, but I am an anti-dog person person. 

I have owned dogs.  I have had hunting hounds, basset hounds, one Irish Wolf Hound and two German Shepherds – I love German shepherds.

I understand the love people have for their dogs; but dog owners should understand that no one else is required to love their dog. 

I object to going into a restaurant and seeing someone there with their dog, either in their lap or on the floor under the table.   I do not understand why anyone thinks it is alight to take their dog into a supermarket while shopping for food.   I don’t understand why someone feels they need to put their dog on a leash and walk it downtown where it can piss on the side of buildings or trees and leave dog turds in the flower bed in front of the post office.  

We have a small park in the center of our town, about a quarter of an acre.  There is a gazebo and beautiful shade trees and some nice benches.   It would be a beautiful place to have lunch in the summer, but dog owners use it as a dog potty.     And picking it up in a plastic sandwich bag doesn't make it all right. 

I have a neighbor that has two dogs that bark at me every time I go in or out of my house. 

I don’t own a dog so I should never step in dog turds when I am walking in my own yard.  

I don’t dislike dogs, but I do dislike irresponsible dog owners that inflict their dogs on the public.  

I miss owning a dog, but they are too much maintenance for me at this point of my life – so I share our home with two Maine Coon Cats; but the cats are kept indoors and are not imposed on anyone unless you visit their house.

My wife says that as I get older I get grumpier – mayhaps that is the case.

the Ol’Buzzard

DOG PEOPLE

CAT PEOPLE always get a bad rap.  When you think of ‘cat people’ there is a connotation of an obsessive person with furniture shredded by claws, the house smelling of urine; carrying on a reclusive, unnatural relationship with a house full of felines.

Dog people, on the other hand, always get a pass. 

Don’t read me wrong, I don’t dislike dogs.   I feel about dogs the same way I feel about kids: You like them – You chose to have them – You put up with them – Don’t inflict them on me. 

Aah, there is the rub and there is my complaint. 

I live in a secluded, wooded area, but yesterday while mowing the lawn I stepped in dog shit.   I don’t own a dog, so why do I have to clean dog shit off my shoe?  

There is an ordinance in town that dog owners must remove dog droppings, but you still find occasional crap piles on the sidewalks - and even when dog owners pick up their dog poop the animals are still pissing in public places.

There is a small park in town where weekly music events take place during the summer, but you have to be careful where you sit because some dog owners will have left their pooch’s crap on the lawn.   There will always be two or three people who show up for the concerts with dog (s.) that will bark and try to cold nose everyone that walks near.  

The complaints continue:

My wife an I were sitting by the front window in a local coffee house when a woman with her dog on a leash stopped to chat with her friend on the sidewalk.   Totally oblivious to the surrounding she chatted while her pooch pissed on the sign advertising the sandwich and soup of the day.

Last year we went to a Chinese buffet and they seated us in a booth next to a woman that had two small dogs wearing orange jackets perched on the chair beside her.   The owner came and asked the woman to remove the dogs but she refused saying the dogs were handicap animals and are allowed, by law, in the restaurants.   Later she explained to a server that she takes the dogs around to nursing homes to cheer up the old people.  

And there is more:

People push their little rat dogs around Wal-Mart in shopping carts – they leave them in cars in parking lots with their windows open – they tie a red bandanna around their necks and let them run free on beaches and in parks – they show up for a visit and bring their dogs.

DOG PEOPLE are inconsiderate.   Dogs are naturally invasive and thoughtless dog owners readily inflict them on the public.   Why do dog owners feel they need to bring their pets down town with them?  Why do they think it is all right to take their dog into fairs and concerts and onto beaches; and even into restaurants and other stores?   It is bad enough that parents bring unruly kids with them into public places, but what is the need to drag along the dog? 

You love your dog and that is great.   You have chosen the companionship of a dog.   All I would ask is that you keep it home – and don’t inflict it on the public. 

the Ol’Buzzard