Tuesday, June 29, 2004

posted by: copernicus on 6/29/2004 04:28:00 PM
5 Fish, 3 Dogs, 2 Cats and 2 Frogs.


Previously the census of the house was:
-5 fish of indeterminate sex
-3 male humans
-2 frogs of indeterminate sex
-2 male cats
-1 female dog

We got a puppy from the Humane Society of Kansas City.

A 2 month old, female Australian Shepard named Mandy. This meant our only dog now had a playmate/little sister. This taught the big sister how to play with other dogs as she (unfortunately) wasn't very socialized as a pup.

Then my roomates went to a softball game and a muddy 6-7 month old Rottweiler pup came running up to them. Stray.

We had another puppy.

The boys went to Petco for supplies for the new puppy, and told their softball story to the cashier. The cashier said "Oh my god! A woman was just in here who said that she saw someone dump 5 cats and 2 Rottweiler puppies in that same park 2 weeks ago. She took all 5 cats home with her.

I find myself hoping that there's not 1 lonely Rottweiler pup still in that park. I would hope that the two sibling dogs would have stayed together until adopted. I hope the other one found a home and that we got the last one who needed rescue.

So now the census in the house is:

-5 fish of indeterminate sex
-3 male humans
-2 frogs of indeterminate sex
-2 male cats
-3 female dogs

And the 2 puppies (the 6-7 moth old Rottweiler much bigger than the 2 month old Australian Shepard) are now wrestling and playfighting to establish order in the pack.

I gotta say it' a draw.

The 2 month old (about 15 pounds) has won as many rounds as the 6-7 month old (about 35 pounds). The cats have been pretty wary lately. Before the puppies, the cats outnumbered the dog and one of them is an outdoor former alley cat with all his claws and about 17 pounds. That's a damn big cat. His name is Little. The other cat is indoors, no claws and about 8 pounds.

Now they find themselves outnumbered by curious, hyperactive puppies. One of these dominance contests between the puppies was occurring in the kitchen, and the big cat was on the kitchen counter watching the melee. After about 2 minutes of dog-wrestling and growling and barking, Little decided that he had had enough of this hierarchy-posturing and needed to remind everyone who was in charge of this house. He waited until the melee came directly underneath his place on the counter.............and pounced.

He landed right on top of the both of them with his claws out. The dogs felt sharp claws and backed away from each other. Now Little was in the middle of them. He hissed and struck out with his left paw, tagged the Rottweiler and then Mandy on his right, both on the muzzles. Both dogs squealed and retreated while Little sat there growling.

The dogs completely forgot who was winning the "I'm In Charge" game, cause the cat knocked them both out of the tournament.

Then he went and took a nap...in the sunshine...on the floor in the middle of the room. Although the dogs could easily reach him, they decided to be quiet and just let him sleep.