In the home where Knees and Paws are created, there now lives an actual dog and cat. I don't keep them around for inspiration; that comes directly from children and their imaginations. As it so happens, our cat Annie has an aversion to dogs. Perhaps this is because she was chased repeatedly by my Mom's dog, the infamous talking Chocolate Lab, Bear. Or possibly she hates dogs because of the four yellow labs that live on the other side of the fence. They love to rush the boundary between our yards and bark whenever we walk outside. In any case, Annie has every right to hiss, groan and swipe when dogs are near.
But some of us feel kinda sad for Ozzie, who is terribly sensitive and gentle. He loves cats and spent a lot of time with 14 them on the farm with his rescuer.
Amid our crazy holiday that included an unlikely snowstorm, loss of power (we camped indoors with NO HEAT!!!), a broken washing machine, broken TV, lots of dog pee on the carpet and other random bad juju, the cat was not getting along with our new family member. I overheard and joined in on the following argument:
Emily: "The cat and dog are not friends and they never will be, Elliot! So keep Ozzie away!" (I thought it was sweet that she brought up the cat litter box and food dish to her room to protect her.)
Elliot: "I think one day they will be friends. They can learn it.
Me: "Elliot is an optimist."
Elliot: "What's an optimist?"
Me: "Someone who sees the good side of things, with hope."
Elliot: "Then Emily is a Megatron!"
And if you have been reading my recent posts, I came up with two New Year's resolutions. The first is to relearn to play my French Horn. Now that I'm a non smoker I can actually make some sounds!
The second is to not be Megatronian in my daily attitude.
I had thought when we brought home a couple of cats that they would learn to get along with the dog we had... I think the cats would have been ok with the dog.. if he had figured out they were not there for him to eat.... they did seem to draw a line in the house and the cats stayed in the back half and the dog in the front.. which seemed to work.
ReplyDeleteOh my, winter weather with no heat. Hope everything is working now. Your son's comment is really cute. Our dogs and cats mostly have learned to get along. Although every few days our youngest dog chases our skinniest cat just for the heck of it.
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