Like Cats and Dogs

The newest member of our family, Mara Jade

I was unusually productive at work today. I was finally able to untangle a mess that I've been struggling with since May. It felt so good to get it finished that I am treating myself to a guilt-free evening of ignoring the mountain of laundry and overflow of dishes that is threatening to bite me back. As Scarlet O'Hara says, "I'll worry about that tomorrow."

Tonight, I'm puppy-sitting.

My brother got a puppy for Christmas. Actually, to be more accurate, he got a puppy ON Christmas. She's an adorable black lab/boxer mix called Jade who really needed a good home. My brother works in the evenings and his roommates were hesitant about agreeing to having a dog (they have SIX cats and a baby. I guess a dog is too much work) so he drops her off at my house on his way to work and she and I play together until he gets off work. I love watching her play. She's so funny. I really enjoy having her here.

The cat, on the other hand... not so happy about the arrangement.

Here's the thing about my cat: She's an only kitty. I tried not to spoil her, but you know how it is with your only child. And cats are naturally somewhat spoiled anyway. So, she does have a bit of attitude.... Oh, who am I kidding? She's full of attitude. She's a spoiled brat and really hates it when I bring other animals in the house.

Tonight Esther pokes her head around the corner of the stairs to find me sitting on the floor with the puppy. Jade is happily chewing on a rope and I'm trying to get a good picture of her. Esther glares at me with accusation in her eyes, as if I'm a traitor of the worst kind.

"What's she doing here again?" she growls out at me.

"Puppy-sitting. Is that a problem?" I look over my shoulder to find her staring at me as if I've been replaced by a dog-loving pod-person. "Why don't you come down and meet her? She's really sweet and too young to know that she's supposed to chase you. You can train her to do your bidding."

"Hiss!" she replies and runs back up the stairs to the safety of my room. I guess that's a no. Oh well, I tried.

Spending the last four nights watching the puppy has been relatively easy. It's an awful lot like watching the babies in my church nursery. It's amazing how similar babies and puppies turn out to be. Both sleep most of the time, demand all my attention when awake, get around on all fours, put everything in their mouths, and pee a lot. I even use the same voice when I address both. And having Jade here forces me to make some changes in my house-cleaning habits (or lack of). The dog chews on EVERYTHING: electric cords and cables, the cat's toys, my carpet, my blanket, my sweater, my hair, sticks, leaves, scraps of paper left over from my latest scrapbooking project, dust bunnies living behind the TV, the coffee table, my nose.... The first thing I've learned to do is keep my shoes out of the living room. Those are NOT to be chewed on!

When I finally get tired of sitting on the floor watching the dog chew on stuff, I get back up on the couch and go back to my TV show. But apparently, this does not work for Jade. First she tries to get my attention by giving me those oh-so-cute puppy whimpers. But I'm not taking the bait. Then she tries to climb up on the couch to sit with me, but her little puppy legs are too short to lift her all the way up. Suddenly I see her make a gallant attempt to JUMP up, but she misses by a few centimeters and falls back to the ground. Ooohhh, poor baby! I finally take pity on her. I pick her up and set her down next to me where she finally settles down and curls up in a tiny black ball and goes back to sleep. Such a sweet little baby.

Poor Esther. I can hear her upstairs loudly yowling her complaints from the bedroom. I'm really going to have to think about how to make this up to her tomorrow when the dog is gone.