The Little Ones in 2011

Truth

In my many years and many travels, I've encountered only one universally accepted truth, one thing everyone agrees on, and that is this — when even Scout won't sleep in her warm bed, it's hot.

We had a lovely cool and wet spring here in the Northwest and escaped the summer with but a few hot days at the end. Scout is such a creature of habit that she likes to sleep in her warm bed no matter the temperature, so as the weather warms I unplug it to extend her comfort as long as possible. This picture is from one of those hot days in early September when she stepped out of the bed behind her and lay down on the cooler desk.

Recently I noticed that the bed doesn't seem to be heating up anymore, even when plugged in, which puts us on the horn of a dilemma: do we leave it as is, knowing it won't keep her as warm during the winter, or swap it out for a functional one but risk upsetting her routine? For now we're letting sleeping cats lie.

Our dog Ellie playing with her baby hedgehog stuffed toy

Run For Your Lives! It's the Vampire Dog!

You can even see the stains below her fangs from the blood of her victims! Fortunately for our household, her favorite prey are hedgehogs. Not just hedgehogs, but baby hedgehogs.

The Replacement Wife

One morning I woke up at 4 a.m. and felt my wife cuddled up against my back. I rolled over to put my arm around her and discovered Ellie there instead. I later discovered my wife had just gotten up and Ellie immediately jumped onto the bed and took her spot.

Perhaps my wife had better watch her back lest Ellie "accidentally" push her down the stairs.

This picture of Ellie was taken on a foggy winter's day in the off-leash section of Irving Park. When we first got her I had doubts we'd ever be able to let her off-leash like this as she was a bit of a wild woman when given her freedom. Now though she does really well and we enjoy our playtime in the park. She still prefers playing with me to dogs, but at times she joins them in their fun.

Ellie relaxing in the off-leash dog park in Irving Park

Sentient Beings

I've made a couple of modifications to our morning ritual of treats for the pets. We had started giving Ellie Checkups once a day, a white dog-shaped treat that is supposed to be good for her teeth. When we discovered this is by far her favorite treat of all, instead of giving Ellie a charcoal dog biscuit in the morning she now gets her white bone.

And oh how she loves them! When I open the door to the closet where we keep them, she runs into my office and quickly lies down on her dog bed, so intently focused that she doesn't move apart from her big black tail which wags furiously.

My wife takes her about once a week to doggie day care so she can spend the day socializing with other dogs. She normally enjoys this and doesn't need any encouragement to go out the door, but one day my wife was running ahead of schedule and was ready to leave while I was still feeding Scout her treats, and thus before Ellie had gotten her highly anticipated white bone. When my wife called her, Ellie got up and started for the door but then returned to me and half-sat and half-stood, torn between obeying my wife's call and waiting for her treat, as if she were being controlled by two minds.

I think her stomach has become self-aware.

Temptations

Another change I made to the Giving of Treats is to swap out the treat I give to Scout. While she still likes the WildSide Salmon dried salmon treats, she wasn't eating them with the same fervor so I decided to mix things up a bit. I started off with Whiskas Wild Alaskan Salmon Flavor Temptations, a little treat with a crunchy whole grain shell and a meaty treat inside. Despite the name, the first ingredient is chicken meal and the wild Alaskan salmon flavor (whatever that is) is one of the last, but Scout loves them. She's normally a bit picky about food so it's nice to find another treat she gets excited about. Sam likes them too, but that's not too surprising, Sam likes just about everything. He has gotten more tolerant of Flea Medicine Night, a monthly ritual necessitated by Scout's flea allergy, partly with experience I suppose and partly because I started giving the cats a few treats afterward to soothe their injured souls. Now instead of hiding from me for a few hours afterward, Sam has learned it is treat time and he doesn't even resist his treatments with the same vigor that he used to — in other words, I don't end up bleeding anymore.

Emma is another picky eater and while she likes the wet food she gets in the mornings, and sometimes eats the dried salmon treats, I have not yet found a dried treat she will consistently eat. I picked up a couple of new Temptations flavors, Free Range Chicken and Yellow Fin Tuna, to see how they would be received. I had little doubt Sam would love them but really hoped Emma would take to them too. On the latest flea night I assembled the three cats after their treatment, each a little irritable but each eyeing the treat bags I held in my hands. Emma didn't like any of the treats, a disappointment but not a surprise, while Scout loved them all. The biggest surprise was Sam, who not only didn't like the new flavors but actually spit them out!

Scout, who was learned well from her Snuggle Twin, body blocked Sam out of the way and devoured his spurned treats and Emma's too, not a normal behavior for our gentle Queen. I guess it's safe to say she likes these treats! I have given her the Tuna flavor the last few days in the mornings, the first time after I handed her the last treat she swatted my empty hand with her paw. I thought it an aberration until she did it again the following morning. This morning though she just buried her head in my empty hand and rubbed her head through my fingers to capture any fleeing evanescences from the departed treats.

Our cats Sam and Scout relaxing in the window seat

The Love of a Dog

Sentient or not, Ellie's stomach got upset after the 4th of July weekend and Monday morning and evening we had the pleasure of cleaning up after she pooped in the house. Sometimes she gets diarrhea like this when she eats something she's not supposed to, but to the best of our knowledge she's had no misadventures lately. My wife moved her right away onto a bland diet of rice and chicken and she regained control of her bowels.

It's possible it's stress related from all of the fireworks activity. When it got loud on the evening of the 4th I closed all the windows despite the heat to help deaden the sound and ease the nerves of the cats who were hiding under beds and couches. Ellie didn't show much outward sign of distress, and although she would look up at me when a boom was especially loud or close, she always settled back down when I told her it was OK.

If she thought it was doggie Armageddon, she didn't seem too concerned that she wasn't being raptured, so long as we were together. That is unconditional love.

	Truth In my many years and many travels, I've encountered only one universally accepted truth, one thing everyone agrees on, and that is this — when even Scout won't sleep in her warm bed, it's hot. We had a lovely cool and wet spring here in the Northwest and escaped the summer with but a few hot days at the end. Scout is such a creature of habit that she likes to sleep in her warm bed no matter the temperature, so as the weather warms I unplug it to extend her comfort as long as possible. This picture is from one of those hot days in early September when she stepped out of the bed behind her and lay down on the cooler desk. Recently I noticed that the bed doesn't seem to be heating up anymore, even when plugged in, which puts us on the horn of a dilemma: do we leave it as is, knowing it won't keep her as warm during the winter, or swap it out for a functional one but risk upsetting her routine? For now we're letting sleeping cats lie.
	Run For Your Lives! It's the Vampire Dog! You can even see the stains below her fangs from the blood of her victims! Fortunately for our household, her favorite prey are hedgehogs. Not just hedgehogs, but baby hedgehogs.
	The Replacement Wife One morning I woke up at 4 a.m. and felt my wife cuddled up against my back. I rolled over to put my arm around her and discovered Ellie there instead. I later discovered my wife had just gotten up and Ellie immediately jumped onto the bed and took her spot. Perhaps my wife had better watch her back lest Ellie "accidentally" push her down the stairs. This picture of Ellie was taken on a foggy winter's day in the off-leash section of Irving Park. When we first got her I had doubts we'd ever be able to let her off-leash like this as she was a bit of a wild woman when given her freedom. Now though she does really well and we enjoy our playtime in the park. She still prefers playing with me to dogs, but at times she joins them in their fun.
	Sentient Beings I've made a couple of modifications to our morning ritual of treats for the pets. We had started giving Ellie Checkups once a day, a white dog-shaped treat that is supposed to be good for her teeth. When we discovered this is by far her favorite treat of all, instead of giving Ellie a charcoal dog biscuit in the morning she now gets her white bone. And oh how she loves them! When I open the door to the closet where we keep them, she runs into my office and quickly lies down on her dog bed, so intently focused that she doesn't move apart from her big black tail which wags furiously. My wife takes her about once a week to doggie day care so she can spend the day socializing with other dogs. She normally enjoys this and doesn't need any encouragement to go out the door, but one day my wife was running ahead of schedule and was ready to leave while I was still feeding Scout her treats, and thus before Ellie had gotten her highly anticipated white bone. When my wife called her, Ellie got up and started for the door but then returned to me and half-sat and half-stood, torn between obeying my wife's call and waiting for her treat, as if she were being controlled by two minds. I think her stomach has become self-aware.