I Love Dogs

I love dogs. Even the word "dog" connotes everything sweet and fuzzy. Dogs are the embodiment of everything loving and devoted. Yes, they get mud on the carpet and crap all over the backyard, and that anal gland thing is really gross, but still...Until our son dumped his cat on us - I mean brought her to live with us at our house - I had never lived with a feline. My mom hated cats. She called them "land fish" and preferred to keep them at arm's (and leg's) length.

The son unit got a cat when he was living in Berkeley (the first time). He responsibly rescued her from a shelter and when he had to move to a new place that didn't take pets, was distraught over having to take her back to the pound. And this is where I stepped in. "You can't send my grandkitty to the Big House! She's an unfriendly pain in the ass...Nobody will adopt her. She'll be killed." And that is exactly what I whined to my hub.

So Beatrice the unfriendly pain in the ass cat came to live with us and our three (at the time) dogs. She spent most of her time upstairs until the hub and I got worried that she'd turn feral and take over up there. This would be weird, even in our house. So we started bringing her downstairs for visits until the dogs got sort of used to her. They learned to live together. Sure, every now and then there'd be a snarl or a hiss or a pro forma attempt at a nip, but for the most part they managed to coexist.

Our Cairn terrier, Ernie, lost his battle with life last January, and we were down to two dogs and one land fish - uh - cat. The house felt empty somehow. Granted, it smelled a lot better (Ernie liked to mark his turf) but something was missing. So, never willing to leave well enough alone, and even though Beatrice was a well known cat hater - despite being one - I got Wilson, the World's Cutest Kitten. Wilson for short.

Wilson is everything that is fun and wonderful in life. He has revealed the true nature of kitties to us. This isn't to say we don't still love Beatrice but Geez, that is a freaking boring mammal!
I'm truly glad that we brought Wilson into our lives. We might never have known how wonderful cats could be if we hadn't.

Where Wilson charms us, he drives our dogs nuts. He likes to hide in laundry baskets and attack them when they walk by. He shreds the toilet paper when you're trying to use it. He jumps on our feet when we're sleeping. Sometimes he jumps higher up on the hub which renders him less charming. But still really cute.

So we brought these interlopers into the house and yet our dogs still love us. They still want to sit on our laps, give us kisses and they look at us with those big, liquid brown eyes. They've forgiven us our foray into felines. They're loyal and loving and they always will be.