Saturday, March 24, 2007
My Dog's Tougher Than Your Cat
What was she thinking???? I was taking my dog out for a walk tonight, and as usual, half a dozen of our cats came along. Now, among these cats were the second and third meanest cats I have ever known. One has sent several people to the emergency room for stitches, and that is the 3rd meanest.
This woman, who I have it on pretty reliable authority called the only Jew on our block a Nazi (at best in extremely poor taste) walks her dog daily around the block passing our house and has upon occasion made rude comments about my not keeping our ivy trimmed completely off the side walk. (so rude in fact that for some time now I have not been trimming much ivy off the sidewalks at all.) There is a narrow pathway through the ivy which apparently is sufficient for the rest of the neighbors as no one else as deemed it necessary to comment.
Well tonight, her dobie, whom she keeps on a retractable leash that is wound around it's muzzle in some fashion was headed our way. The second meanest cat saw them coming and deliberately walked close to the side walk and hunkered down mid driveway as if she intended to attack should the dog set one paw on her turf. This woman said to the cat, "what's the matter with you, your not hiding." I said, "actually, she does not hide, she tends to attack." I considered this fair warning to curb her dog, but she sort of snorted at me and said her dog was a dobie, and they don't feel pain.
Now, for those of you who don't know dobies, they do have a reputation for being great guard dogs, but having had two different dobies in my life, I can guarantee you they DO feel pain when it is inflicted. Rather than get into a verbal pissing contest with this bizarre woman, I said, " I wouldn't be putting my money on the dog" to which she replied her dog had killed at least two cats that she knew of.
I found this really weird. The "my dog is tougher than your cat" attitude coming from a senior citizen was sort of a surprise. I did not mention that should she opt to turn her hound loose upon a cat already bent on causing some pain and damage, that directly behind me was my chow mix dog who thinks of all the cats here as her cats, and the ONLY thing I have ever seen cause her to become aggressive in any manner is if she thinks someone is going to hurt one of her cats. There was also the 3rd meanest cat, who if she saw her mom in trouble, would no doubt join the fray.
After all, I certainly would not want to have this relatively unhinged woman think I was issuing any kind of a challenge. While my money would be on the two cats and the chow, I personally prefer not to add to the vet bills of anyone who actually cares about their animals.
Since her dog was in effect muzzled, I don't see that it would have stood a chance against two crazy mean cats and one very protective dog.
I sort of think this woman must also be a war supporter in general. As I recall, the reason she called the very nice Jewish lady down the street (who is in her late 80 to early 90's and is not of German decent) a Nazi was over her feeling she was not up to taking in more stray cats and had been asking around to find anyone either willing to take on the newest arrivals to her property, or help finding someone to catch them and take them home.
I started to wonder if this woman had produced offspring, and if she had, has she instilled in them this same attitude of confrontation? We really do need higher learning institutions that teach peace and arbitration and not conflict and war.
My dog would never think of being aggressive unless it was in defense of a cat. I prefer negotiation and arbitration to fighting although I will admit to having been in a fair share of fights of one kind or another when there seemed to be no alternative.
The neighborhood where I grew up certainly has changed. There are far more important issues that require my attention now, but should she ever turn her dog loose on any of our cats, then I will feel I have duly warned her of the possible consequences and will not hesitate to stand up to any claims against the cats. The dog would be trespassing after all.
This woman, who I have it on pretty reliable authority called the only Jew on our block a Nazi (at best in extremely poor taste) walks her dog daily around the block passing our house and has upon occasion made rude comments about my not keeping our ivy trimmed completely off the side walk. (so rude in fact that for some time now I have not been trimming much ivy off the sidewalks at all.) There is a narrow pathway through the ivy which apparently is sufficient for the rest of the neighbors as no one else as deemed it necessary to comment.
Well tonight, her dobie, whom she keeps on a retractable leash that is wound around it's muzzle in some fashion was headed our way. The second meanest cat saw them coming and deliberately walked close to the side walk and hunkered down mid driveway as if she intended to attack should the dog set one paw on her turf. This woman said to the cat, "what's the matter with you, your not hiding." I said, "actually, she does not hide, she tends to attack." I considered this fair warning to curb her dog, but she sort of snorted at me and said her dog was a dobie, and they don't feel pain.
Now, for those of you who don't know dobies, they do have a reputation for being great guard dogs, but having had two different dobies in my life, I can guarantee you they DO feel pain when it is inflicted. Rather than get into a verbal pissing contest with this bizarre woman, I said, " I wouldn't be putting my money on the dog" to which she replied her dog had killed at least two cats that she knew of.
I found this really weird. The "my dog is tougher than your cat" attitude coming from a senior citizen was sort of a surprise. I did not mention that should she opt to turn her hound loose upon a cat already bent on causing some pain and damage, that directly behind me was my chow mix dog who thinks of all the cats here as her cats, and the ONLY thing I have ever seen cause her to become aggressive in any manner is if she thinks someone is going to hurt one of her cats. There was also the 3rd meanest cat, who if she saw her mom in trouble, would no doubt join the fray.
After all, I certainly would not want to have this relatively unhinged woman think I was issuing any kind of a challenge. While my money would be on the two cats and the chow, I personally prefer not to add to the vet bills of anyone who actually cares about their animals.
Since her dog was in effect muzzled, I don't see that it would have stood a chance against two crazy mean cats and one very protective dog.
I sort of think this woman must also be a war supporter in general. As I recall, the reason she called the very nice Jewish lady down the street (who is in her late 80 to early 90's and is not of German decent) a Nazi was over her feeling she was not up to taking in more stray cats and had been asking around to find anyone either willing to take on the newest arrivals to her property, or help finding someone to catch them and take them home.
I started to wonder if this woman had produced offspring, and if she had, has she instilled in them this same attitude of confrontation? We really do need higher learning institutions that teach peace and arbitration and not conflict and war.
My dog would never think of being aggressive unless it was in defense of a cat. I prefer negotiation and arbitration to fighting although I will admit to having been in a fair share of fights of one kind or another when there seemed to be no alternative.
The neighborhood where I grew up certainly has changed. There are far more important issues that require my attention now, but should she ever turn her dog loose on any of our cats, then I will feel I have duly warned her of the possible consequences and will not hesitate to stand up to any claims against the cats. The dog would be trespassing after all.
Labels: cats, dogs, elderly nuts, mental abberation, trespassing
