"Cat's are Better Than Dogs"

For some reason my husband decided that our cat needed a playmate. Now normally that wouldn't be so bad but he decided that the perfect playmate for our grown, somewhat sedate cat would be a puppy. You have to understand that most of his life he has been a dog person. And not just any dog either, it must be a big dog. If it's not at least the size of a German Shepherd his comment will be and has always been, "Rat in a dog suit." He never owned a cat until we came here and I was able to persuade him that a cat was valuable when you live in the country.

Now he likes cats but he doesn't really understand yet that they aren't just small dogs. And the sad fact is that he has been at it for so long that our cats think they are dogs in a twisted sort of what. If we aren't careful they will eat the dog food instead of the their own. He has them trained to roll over and let him scratch their bellies just like a dog. But still they have a lot of cat behavior too. They play like cats, they pounce like cats, they play with their food like cat, (I don't like mice but it's sad to watch,) and when they get angry they hiss and strike out just like cats. They are not dogs.

Anyway back to the start of the story. My husband decided that Dewy, our inside cat, needed a playmate and decided to get him a dog. Fortunately, he understood that he needed to break the cat in with baby steps and that I wasn't ready to get another Great Dane to replace Molly with yet, so, despite his "rat in a dog suit" bias he decided to go small. A friend of ours had some puppies that were half Yorkie and half mute (with a large dollop of Dachshund on the mute side.) They were really cute. My husband decided that it was the perfect size for any dog owning cat, plus it would be a perfect size puppy for our youngest son. After they gets used to what little puppies are like we can graduate to a bigger puppy as while when I get ready.

We've had him for a week now and I have to tell you that the cat is not real interested in being a dog owner, (which I tried to explain to my husband would be the probable outcome before we got Dino,(the puppy, what can I say my youngest named him.) In the past week Dewy has gone from sniffing at Dino and batting him with a raised paw to fur raised hissing and growing whenever Dino comes around. Unfourtunately Dino is like all children, he doesn't really understand danger when he's around it and keeps trying to play with Dewy as he would his brother and sisters. I expect that any day now Dewy will rip Dino into little ribbons. I'm suprised that Dewy has been this patient with him.

In the mean time Dino is going through all the normal puppy things. He plays the way puppies play and he has sharp little teeth. If he get's hold for your bare skin it's not much fun. He's teething so he chews everything in sight, including any toys that are within reach. That's not much fun if you happen to be six. We are trying to house break him and while it is going well, he's still not sure what it is that we want. Every once in a while he will do one part of his business outside and wait untill he's inside to do the other. On occation they youngest has to take a turn to help clean it up. I have to brag because he never grips or complains but the other day, as he was walking back from the bathroom I heard him mumbling under his breath, "Cat's are better than dogs."