Junie's Online Thoughts
Sunday, October 23, 2005
This weekend we stayed at Jeremy's mom's house to watch the dog while she was away. We didn't want to leave Squeak alone, so we brought him along. He loved the house while he lived here for a year and a half, so we thought it would be both a treat and an interesting experiment. Squeak didn't like the dog. Brandi sat at our feet while we watched tv, and Squeak would only venture as far as the stairs. He'd puff up and start making these awful, growly, keening sounds like I've never heard in my life. Brandi pretty much ignored the cat, which I really appreciated. Friday night we closed the bedroom door so Squeak wouldn't wake me up.
The next morning, I opened the door and Squeak rushed the dog. He got all up in her face and made even worse sounds. It freaked Brandi out and we asked the dog to stay downstairs. But Squeak kept having to go down the stairs and peer/growl at the dog. He couldn't relax, or leave the dog alone. We brought Squeak back home later that morning. By then, it was causing me distress. Jeremy had experienced dogs and cats living together for his whole life, but I've never had to deal with it, let alone introduce my own cat, who has never interacted with another animal in his whole life, to a dog. It would be different if it was our house or our dog. But it's not really fair to each animal. This is Brandi's house, and why should she be banished to the first floor because of some crazy cat? And why torture Squeak when he'll probably never see the dog again. There's no reason to force them to get along if they're not going to live together. If they were both mine, I would let them duke it out. But otherwise it just seemed pointless.
I do, however, have new found respect for the dog. Previously, she was a bit like a kid when we came over. We are still new to her, so she'd act all hyper and attention-deprived every minute. But when we stayed at the house, she chilled out and would just hang around. Sometimes we'd have to throw the ball, and she'd start barking if we hugged or kissed for more than two seconds. But mostly she was incredibly obediant and well-behaved. I'm just happy she didn't attack the cat, especially since Squeak was an annoying, freaked-out, neurotic furball.
We checked on Squeak last night before going to First Ave for a concert. He was just fine. The concert, unfortunately, was cancelled. (Stupid bassist needing his appendix out!) We walked around downtown to try and get our money's worth out of parking, then drove to the Turf Club for a drink, then came home to watch tv and sleep.
Today we're going to the Farmer's Market, then going home in the afternoon. Then work starts all over again tomorrow.....sigh.
