Sunday 19 January 2014

Of cats and dogs

You have to recognize Cats and Dogs are very different psychological entities. The cat being a bit of a self contained individual hunter and dogs being pack animals working in a pack whit a definite hierarchy.

Lez Barker very wisely noted that cats like this master servant thing, just not that way round.

Dogs on the other hand can be shown who is boss and they damn well need to be too.

The reason for these observations is the recent arrival of Kenny, a cross between a collie and Labrador, a colliedoor. He's a rescue dog, about 18 months of limitless energy needing endless walks and capable of major soft furnishing destruction if bored and left on his own.

His arrival has not passed unnoticed amongst the other furry citizens of this household and the response has been interesting. The cats seem to want to avoid him, which is good all round. But he is hell bent on seeking them out and shows no evidence of learning. Da man walked away up until the point when he was cornered, the dog kept coming which was in retrospect a serious mistake. Out of the corner exploded a snarling biting scramming 3 legged ball of fury. The dog beat an increasingly hasty retreat which ended with a cat chasing the dog round the living room

You might have expected to see some learning, but no, next time out he decided to try his luck with Deimund. That ended no better with a cat demonstrating bearback dog riding as they went round and round the living room too.

He does have some endearing features, next doors sheep who considered our fields an extension of their terrain, Kenny, who seems to have a instinct for herding sheep into corners seems to have put them right off.

A fox who had started to make our place a part of his regular round has also thought better, since he broke cover right in front of Kenny and he nearly yanked the managements arm out it's socket in the wild pursuit that followed.

Bethan has invented a new sport, I'm sure you have heard of Bog snorkeling, Bethan has indulged in some wet field Dog log surfing, this involves getting yanked flying off your feet by the dog then dragged a selected route round the field. It's better not to scream.....

He has eaten 3 pairs of wellies so far,  consequently the field is paved with dog logs and shards of undigested rubber.     

Deimund and him have a sort of impasse, Deimund sits on the settee pretending the dog is not there and all is well so long as the dog does not try and approach the master being. Even then a hiss and growl is now usually enough.

R