These two...

I share my house with three critters: Hoover, a sweet lab/retriever cross; Hoops, a rather hyper, but equally sweet Brittany spaniel, and Hope, a young cat that was given to me by a student on the last day of school a couple of years ago. I feed them, and they let me live here.

Hoover is 12 years old, and mostly sits and looks regal, but the other two tease and chase each other all day long. I used to yell at Hoops because she’s bigger, and I thought she was just tormenting the cat to intimidate her. Lately, I’ve realized that the torment goes both ways. I was sitting on the couch reading, and Hope was perched on the coffee table in front of me. Hoops walked by and stood by the table, right next to the cat. Neither of them moved for a moment – in fact, Hoops was showing a great deal of restraint, I thought.

Then very slowly, Hope reached out and put her paw on Hoops’ head. Touch. No response. Then she did it again. Touch, touch… I could see Hoops trembling, but she still didn’t rise to the bait. Touch, tou…. And the race was on – back and forth down the hallway and around and over all the furniture, under the dining room table… Hope finally jumped up on the kitchen counter and then onto the fridge, and Hoops did a little tap dance down below.

They like to do this when I have company over, so everyone can see that I live with circus animals.

these two –
they chase and bite
and tease each other
all day long
my own personal
circus – start up
the music
the show
is starting
again…

Yesterday morning I walked out in the kitchen and they were both lying in front of the patio door, almost on top of each other. They stayed that way for about an hour, until the sun moved beyond the door. Sort of like the lion lying down with the lamb, I thought…

Pets – you gotta love ‘em…