Saturday, April 07, 2007

King of the Castle

It is absolutely amazing how animals can determine who is the boss, head honcho, big cheese, etc - Even when they're of two different species.
Hub is "dog sitting" a black lab named Dutch. The MONSTER dog belongs to my MIL, who is in Arkansas this weekend. I say Hub is dog sitting because I want the dog outside, despite the fact that he primarily stays indoors - Hub insists on keeping him indoors. My primary concern will always be for "da boys", Clyde and Sammy, our two geriatric felines.
When a major shift is about to occur in their world, Hub or I will sit down and tell them about it before it happens - Hub going out of town, groups of people coming to the house, visiting the vet, and weekends with Dutch. You may laugh, but it makes a huge difference. When Hub goes out of town, if he doesn't talk to da boys about it first, I have to endure screaming yowls between 2AM to 5 AM the entire time Hub's gone. Trust me, it's not fun.
When Dutch first entered the house, Hub took him room to room giving instructions as to which rooms were off limits. It seems to be working so far with the exception of what ever room Clyde is in. Clyde has apparently made it clear that the dog is to stay away from him at all times. While Clyde is laying on the back of the sofa glaring at Dutch, Dutch will not come into the living room. When Clyde is in the master bedroom, Dutch will very briefly stick his head in the door way and take a quick peek to see what is going on, upon seeing Clyde, he retreats into the other room. If Clyde meows at him, he practically runs away.
There are moments that I feel for Dutch, but he is in feline territory after all, and Clyde if VERY territorial. I feel so proud that my cranky ole kitty will fight to protect what is his.
It's amazing how a 17 year old, 10 pound cat can rule over a 2 year old, 110 pound black lab.
Until next time......................

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG! After finally meeting the "monster" I find this funny that your little kitty who runs when we're there can frighten this big ole dog!!! Just funny!!!! :-)

~ Wolf Lover Girl

Jess said...

When we got Zoe, I asked the nice people at Operation Kindness what the best way would be to introduce her to our kitties. The nice English lady said "don't you worry yourself about the cats. They will tell the dog what is acceptable behavior and what is not. The dog can do whatever she likes when she's outside, but the inside is ruled by the cats, and she will learn that." And indeed she has.

Funny how that works. :) Glad to see Clyde is standing his ground!