Monday, February 23, 2009

Are You a Cat or a Dog?

Last night we attended an Oscar party and the biggest surprise of the night was not Sean Penn beating Mickey Rourke for Best Actor….

No, the biggest surprise of the night was finding my husband, Jeff, confirmed Hater-of-Cats, gingerly petting the big, fat, fluffy gray cat of our hostess!

The cat was sitting on the kitchen table, next to Jeff, and he was caressing her with a smile on his face that looked like he was really enjoying himself.

One of the biggest regrets of my life is that I didn’t get a photo of this!

(And certainly something that my husband will deny in future years without photographic evidence. He tends to repress uncomfortable experiences to the point of completely blocking them from his memory! Certainly petting a cat will fall into this category.)

As we were leaving the party with our kids, I again exclaimed at the wonder of Jeff petting a Cat!

Jeff remarked that he was just trying to be a good guest—embracing, rather than recoiling at the experience of the cat jumping up to sit beside him on the table.

He explained the nature of his experience with Cats…

“Unlike Dogs, Cats want to know if you're friend or foe (most Dogs assume you're friend).

So, if you ignore a Cat when you first meet it, the Cat will seek you out to determine friend / foe. Therefore, the quickest way to get rid of a Cat is to initially pet it and then ignore it. This establishes you as a unreliable friend and practically insures the Cat will never bother you again.

Put yourself in the Cat's position: if a guy flirted with you at a bar and then ignored you for the rest of the night, how would you feel?”

Is it a wonder that this (Cat) guy ever got married?! Good thing he connected with a Dog like me…

“It’s funny,” I said, “That you hate Cats so much, when, really, you are a Cat.”

"What?"

“They say there are two different kinds of people—Cats or Dogs. You are definitely a Cat. You keep your distance. People—you can take or leave. You are naturally aloof. As long as your bowl has food and your litter box is clean, you are pretty well satisfied.”

“In our family, Jeff and Savannah are Cats. Carson and I are Dogs.”

“What?!” exclaimed Savannah! “I don’t want to be a Cat!”

“Sorry, honey, you’re a Cat like your dad.”

“No!”

“Let’s think about Dogs. They love people! They are happy! They would rather have a walk and a belly rub and a little attention than anything.”

“But everybody loves Dogs!”

“It’s not about being popular. Angelina Jolie is a Cat! Sean Penn is a Cat! George Clooney is a Dog! They all have Oscars!”

Some people like Cats and most people like Dogs—it’s a matter of personal preference. You might admire a Cat from afar, but not want to get too close. Sometimes people even like Cats more because they are so hard to like.

Tilda Swinton, for example.

But, the clincher…

“A Dog would rather play ball in the yard than cruise Wikipedia for Twilight references.”

“OK, I guess I am a Cat," Savannah relented.

“Fine," I said. Dog that I am, giving her a hug, “Luckily, I like Cats AND Dogs.”

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Babysitting Dog's Little Brother


I have a few backlogged blogs to post, but just had to do this one today--totally living in the Now! A tale of two brothers—a photo-journal…


As loyal blog readers know, Cameron and family are the wonderful people who are Sunny’s “second family.” Whenever we go on vacation, we leave Dog (aka Sunny) with the Sullivans where I know he is not only well-taken care of, but loved and spoiled to excess. Vacations all around!

Long story, short, the Sullivans fell so madly in love with Sunny that they decided they just had to have one of their very own—and not just any dog, but a brother of Sunny’s—different litter, but same mother. (Much more about this later…)

Such is how "Speedo" (named not only for his quick sprints, but, also because Cameron and kids are competitive swimmers) came to be the new Top Dog at Chez Sullivan.

Cameron and I just knew that the brothers would be the best of friends and imagined rambunctious playdates and trading sleepovers when we needed someone to watch the dogs.

What we never could have anticipated is just how much the dogs would behave like real brothers. Speedo ADORES Sunny. He would rather be with Sunny than anyone—just the mention of "Sunny" sends Speedo into near spasms of doggie delight of barking and whining and crying! When he sees Sunny, he leaps at him—nudging and jostling for play—doing anything to get his attention.

Sunny, on the other hand, not so much.

It’s a little strange, because Sunny is extraordinarily friendly--he will cross a busy street to greet a person or dog; he loves most dogs, and he is the first to strike up a friendly play whether it’s with the cute little Havanese girl down the street or the neighbor's big Lab-mix from the pound.

But his attitude towards Speedo leans more to tolerance than delight. Just like the little brother who constantly bugs his big brother to let him in on the fun—Speedo just seems to desperately want to be a Big Dog, too.

I, of course, love Speedo like you love the baby of a really good friend--he's absolutely adorable, charming, cute-beyond-all-measure, and totally exhausting! You marvel at the energy of your friend and wonder how you did it when it was your time.

Today Cameron took her twin girls on a big, all-day trip to San Francisco, so I cleared my schedule so I could be home all day to be Doggie Supernanny. And what a day!

The first thing I did, as you always do when watching babies, is to fence off the stairs...


Of course, I worry about Speedo's safety, but, also, I have new carpet upstairs.

The boys sized each other up:

Are you lookin’ at ME?


Then they decided to play a little keep-away…

Mom, Speedo has my toy!




Sunny, you have to learn to share with your brother.

Mom, He's teasing me!

Oh, Sunny, you have to be more tolerant, he’s just a baby! You’re the big brother!

Aha! You took your eye off the prize. Now I’m coming to get what’s mine!


Now, who’s the Big Dog?


I am totally taking this outside and burying it in my secret spot.



OK, Boys! Enough! I am not going to spend my day refereeing your silly sibling squabbles! Opposite sides of the couch for you!


I’ve got to get away…Up to my perch!


Where’s Sunny?



Come on! Let’s Play!



And, just like a lot of brothers, I have no doubt that Sunny and Speedo will someday be the best of friends!