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| Oh, if my wolf ancestors could see me now... |
It has been an eventful morning. First off - from the moment they announced a featured story on CBS Sunday Morning about the funeral of a K-9 police dog, I knew I shouldn't watch it. But I did. It was heart wrenching. The dog and his human partner responded to an alarm at a business in the middle of the night. Of course, the K-9 ran in first and was shot three times by the burglar. He died. His human partner was devastated. There was a funeral for the dog in which hundreds of police officers from around the country were in attendance.
People often accuse animal lovers of anthropomorphizing their companion animals. I don't like that word which means "attaching human traits and qualities" to animals. I think that word is misleading. If one believes in evolution, then we are descended from animals which means they were in possession of the emotions, qualities and traits long before mankind stood up and started carrying their crap around in a briefcase. If anything, we are the ones who acquired things like loyalty, devotion, love and a sense of humor - from them! I'm just sayin...
You would never get away with telling the police officer who lost his partner that he was "anthropomorphizing" him. Or that "it was just a dog." Or, "it can be replaced." God forbid you should tell him it was "just dumb luck the dog took the bullets and (you) didn't." I'm pretty sure you would get your clock cleaned - as in lights out, pal. This was his partner in the purest sense.
The police officer was nearly inconsolable as he described the dog he raised from a puppy. He choked back the tears as he said he would rather it had been him who was shot so he didn't have to suffer the pain of losing his best friend. And then, he looked straight at the reporter and said, "He saved my life." At that point I was a blubbering mess and my husband was surreptitiously wiping something off his cheek.
Two other things happened simultaneously. I was responding to a Facebook post about how many times a day should you feed a dog, at the same time Andy decided it was time for us to pack up the Christmas tree. While I was throwing in my two cents, sort of offhandedly, but based on years of experience (trial and error) in feeding many, many creatures - Andy was being tormented by Boo! who came close to getting herself accidentally packed away with the tree until next year. Hey, in her defense, it was a giant bag - just begging to be explored.
Moments before, she had escaped death by electrocution when she decided, of all the things she's explored in the house, she hadn't yet walked behind the television - which IS HANGING ON THE WALL!!!! I would have taken a picture had it not been for the fact I was standing there, horrified; watching her carefully maneuver herself over wires, across her precarious perch. I was holding my breath and afraid to grab her in case I caused more of a problem.
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| Most sit and watch a TV. Boo! would rather see what's behind it. |
Andy was in the bathroom hearing me go, "Oh, God! Where are you? What have you done? Get out of there!" He came running out, wide eyed, adjusting his pants, hesitantly asking, "What has she done now??" It never even crossed his mind I might be talking to one of our five other cats or the dogs.
Boo! made it down, bringing lots of unreachable dust bunnies with her, and strolled off with her head held high like she meant to do just that and was never in trouble, so there.
Jack was on the couch watching the whole thing with his, They're your stupid cats, look on his face. Then, when the excitement died down, he rolled over and went back to sleep.
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| Yea, that's the look. |
That was when Boo! discovered the Christmas tree storage bag. I heard Andy say, "You better get out of there before you get packed up with the tree!" I found her tucked way down in the bottom of the bag. I decided it was better for everyone if she went into the front room. No sooner did I deposit her in there and went back to help, when I found Finn curled up in the same bag. Dash was sitting next to it waiting his turn. I scooped both of them up and sent them in to keep their little sister company.
We got the tree packed up without any stowaways, but the fun didn't end there. No, it did not. Of course, the tree had to get stored - where? - the front room - AKA cat room. What started out as three cats turned into ALL six now terribly interested in what was behind those closet doors.
Andy is not used to navigating around six curious felines ALL DAY LONG so he is somewhat confused by their behavior. I just emptied a box and tossed it down and - voila - problem solved. Of course, Boo! managed to get herself stuck in the box and almost went out with the trash. Luckily, she popped her head out just in time. For those thinking how could you not know there was something in the box - she weighs about two ounces - that's how. She's like lifting a feather.
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| This is not an ordinary box. It is a cat diversionary device. |
What a morning! I am drenched in sweat and exhausted. And there weren't even any ornaments to pack away! Anyhoo - I had been multitasking thru the whole ordeal - as in checking Facebook - and I discovered someone was challenging me on my comment that it's probably better to feed dogs several times a day rather than just once. This person's comments sounded logical - that dogs are descended from wolves and they only ate what they could find - certainly not eating three times a day. And we have a tendency to - wait for it - anthropomorphize dogs. Oh for the love of Mike, people will argue anything on social media.
Today's domesticated dog, while they may have their DNA in common with their wolf ancestors, are as far from wolf-ish as they could be. A wolf, for example, would catch something and eat all of it - bones, fur, organs, etc. Then they would rest and digest this mess until they caught something else.
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| This is a mistake! We're wolves I tell you! |
I'm not going to tell someone how to feed their companion animal. Everyone has to do what makes sense for them. Oh, and you never have to take my advice. I'm full of opinions as well as true and false logic. Just ask my kids and husband. But I do try to impart my experience on things I've researched and/or been told by experts. These days, however, you will find everyone is an expert and every opinion can be found from A to Z, thanks to the "Interweb." (wink wink) Good luck! It's lunchtime and the cats and I are hungry...
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