Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Cat Came Back (part 1)

I'm a dog person. I've probably made that clear in the past, but let me just state it flat out. I'm a dog person. Remember her?
And this is her eating a carrot:
I love my dog. She's, like, the cutest thing ever.

My dog, however, is not a dog person. Um, dog dog. Um, she doesn't like dogs very much. I think I have to relate this to women who say they only have guy friends and don't get along with other women very well.

Don't get me wrong, my dog does have a few other doggy friends, but her general reaction to "strange" dogs while we're out walking is not very... welcoming. Especially if the dog is bigger than her (there are some good reasons for this). Yes, she has a bad case of SDS, Small Dog Syndrome for those of you that aren't familiar.

She started out with a thing against cats, too. Well, actually, she started out with a thing against everyone and everything (except us), but, then again, she is a rescue dog. Mostly, she's gotten over her issues except with other dogs and people that walk funny. No, I'm not making that up. Anyway...
She had this thing against cats and loved to bark and chase them away. Until this one cat... this one cat showed up that wouldn't run away. We were walking down the trail the first time she met this cat, and she charged it, and the cat just stood there. It was almost like the cat had a force field, because my dog just kind of stopped, didn't know what to do, ran half way around the cat with the cat staring, and ran away. Yes, my dog ran away from the cat that just sat there. I say sat because, as my dog was contorting around the cat, the cat sat down and watched. I think it was laughing.

This kind of thing became a routine for a few days at which time the cat decided he would join us on our walks and just followed along. This really tweaked out my dog. You know in horror movies when the woman (usually) thinks she's being followed and keeps looking behind her and nothing's there, but, eventually, she's running away from the nothing anyway? Well, that was what my dog was like except, when she looked back, she could see the cat right there.

I can just imagine the thoughts in my dog's head:
"What's wrong with this cat? Doesn't it know it's the one that's supposed to run away?"
"Cats are not my friend!"
"Why is this thing following me?!"
"Run away! Run away!"

But the cat just kept buddying up to my dog, and, eventually, they became friends. People in the neighborhood thought the cat belonged to me, because he went walking with me and my dog so often. Yeah, my dog on a leash walking up ahead of me with the cat trotting along beside me or gravitating back-and-forth between me and the dog.

Having said that I am a dog person, I should also add that I am not a cat person. Not that I dislike cats, I've just never in my life had any desire to own one, and, until now, there had ever only been one cat in my life that I liked and thought was cool (which is a story for another time).

While all of this was going on, my daughter was doing her best to befriend the cat which she and some of her friends named Sam. Which wasn't really a big deal, since he's a very social cat. A cat that had no collar, by the way, and seemed to never have any place to be. The cat was just always in the park or roaming around the trail near the park. No one would claim him, and, yes, we did go and check around.
The cat.
The cat being cozy on my daughter.

Eventually, we did find the owner, although it was quite by accident. He has another cat that is very similar looking to not-Sam (his actual name is Jack) and a dog. He doesn't collar any of his animals, so they have no tags, and none of them are chipped. He doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with this, I guess, because 2/3 of his animals are home bodies. As far as I can tell, though, Jack never goes home.

In fact... well, that's for part two...

17 comments:

  1. Awww cute doggy! :) I am not a cat person. My 5 lb dog is afraid of cats. We had one blow in after a storm in June- TG he found an owner bcuz the dog was terrified to go out.
    Definitely enjoyed reading. Can't wait to read Part II.

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  2. Great story, Andrew! I'm hooked and can hardly wait to hear what happens. I suspect Alex is right, though...

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  3. What a great looking dog. I have 4 of them, so I think it's fair to say I'm a dog person. But I've also got a cat... well, my wife got a cat... but now the cat won't leave me alone and admittedly she's grown on me.

    I think I know what's going to happen, but I'm looking forward to part 2.

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  4. The problem we had with our cats is that if we put a collar on them the danged things find a way to slip out of the collars.

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  5. I'm mostly a dog person too. Nothing against cats, but their love tends to be conditional. I can't handle that kind of rejection.

    Hmmm, and I have a dog post up today too. Disclaimer: I really do love dogs, though I'm horrible to them when I write.

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  6. I have two of each. One of my dogs (the one who's afraid of pretty much everything)is very prone to chasing the cats. One of the cats doesn't move when this happens. She sits there, doesn't move, doesn't flinch, until the dog loses interest and goes somewhere else.

    And yeah, your dog is one of the cutest things ever. =)

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  7. I'm a dog person, too. But I love cats, as well. Just not as much. But since my female dog, Maleah, died last July, my male dog, Jack, is lonely, so I'm thinking about getting him a cat. Maleah was a gift to my last cat, Kiley. And Jack was a gift for Maleah. Now it's time get a kitty for Jack. Maleah was very much like your dog. Most female alphas are. Quite intolerant. Same as human females. They just haven't learned finesse quite yet.

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  8. I kinda want to steal your dog.

    And I'm not one for pet stealing, but this guy doesn't seem to take good care of his animals, so maybe Sam/Jack is better off with you...

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  9. Maybe when your dog ran up to the cat and he didn't run away, she was just confused because she never caught one before.

    What a cute story. The cat has a crush on your dog :)

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  10. Alex: Well, you'll just have to find out, won't you? :P

    G_G: Well, at 5 lbs, I would be surprised if your dog wasn't scared of a cat.

    Cathy: That would be telling...

    ABftS: Cats do that sort of thing: who can annoy the most? Or, maybe, it's "who can I make love me?"

    PT: We have the same problem with our dog. Her neck is bigger than her head, so we can't put a leash on her collar, so she has to wear a harness for going out in.

    L.G.: That's because it's not love; it's just usery.

    M.J.: It's so disconcerting when the cat just sits there.
    What's worse, though, is when the cat freezes in place because of fright. Those my dog just wants to jump on.

    I can't help but you agree with on the cuteness thing. :)

    Nancy: One thing to consider (which I just found out from all the cat research): cats and dogs learn to socialize best with each other when they are young.

    S.L.: You know, I'd go talk to the guy if I knew anything about him, but I don't know his name or where he lives.
    And I know where I'm looking if my dog ever goes missing. :P

    Jeanne: She did catch a gopher once, but it was kind of an accident, and she didn't know what to do then, either.

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  11. Now see, I am a cat person and not really a dog person. I had one perfect dog, a doberman, and I don't think I could ever get another dog that would equal up to her. I did, however, have a cat like Jack/Sam. He blew dog's minds. He was an alpha through and through, and would behave in EXACTLY the same way. And he never got hurt by a dog or anything like that. He would move in with people for a week, sneak into cars and go for rides (always close your moon roof...), etc. And he DID have a collar with tags. I'll never understand why people thought it was okay to keep my cat for a week and then tell me about it later like it was funny. He always came back, though.

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  12. I have three dogs and three cats. I'm just an animal person I guess. I did have a cat named Piggy that could back any dog down just by sitting still. I don't know what kind of energy he was giving off, but whatever it was, strange dogs picked up on it, turned tail and ran away.

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  13. Love dogs and cats. Petless these days tho. Don't believe in collars on cats, they can get caught and cause choking.

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  14. Shannon: Yeah, that's kind of weird. Not your cat but the people. If I can see that an animal has an owner, I'm gonna leave the animal to its owner. Or let the owner know what's going on. Something.

    Anne: Well, I like animals, too, but, overall, I'm a dog person. I really want to have squirrels and a racoon. That would be a lot of fun.

    Jo: I've never heard that about collars on cats.

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  15. Your dog is adorable. Baxter has an issue where he doesn't understand that other dogs may not be dog people, so he gets attacked a lot. I try to tell him all the time he can't talk to strangers, but he doesn't like to listen.

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  16. Lynn(e): That's because strangers are fun and exciting! All those new smells!

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