My beautiful Max was a shelter dog that we adopted when he was about 9 months old (estimated). His pic is at the bottom of this post (he is an RB boy as of the summer of 2006...he lived to be 14). His history was unknown, because the town we lived in had a 'don't ask don't tell' policy and drop boxes that had food and water bowls where folks could drop unwanted pets. As much as it sounds like they were encouraging people to discard animals, it resulted in drastically reduced numbers of abandoned animals that ended up strays trying to survive on the streets.
So we found Max and fell in love and brought him home. It was pretty obvious from the get-go that he had been raised around cats. He groomed himself like a cat, licking, and even licking his paws and cleaning his face. The little apartment complex in which we lived housed a couple of 'resident' cats, one of which loved to laze outside the door of our apartment. Well, one day we took Max out on the leash and saw him react to the cat. We were nervous. But the cat didn't seem at all concerned and Max ran up to the cat and, using his nose, flipped the reclining cat over on his back! The cat loved it and he and Max became fast friends.
In the neighborhood where I now live, there is a neighborhood cat who wanders and visits. Once again, Max found a friend and the cat knew immediately Max posed no thread. It got so the cat would follow us inside after Max's evening walks. He had no interest in staying, just walking in and then being let back out.
Now it gets weird. When I had to put my beloved Max down, this cat stopped coming to the windows and the doors. He knew.
18 months later I get Sammie (indoor only) and this dang cat comes around again. Sammie and the cat are window friends and through the screen on the lanai friends.
To this day, since I was never a cat person before my Sammie, I believe that my sweet Max was training me that cats are really very awesome.
Thank you, my darling Max. Wait for me, Baby Boy.
So we found Max and fell in love and brought him home. It was pretty obvious from the get-go that he had been raised around cats. He groomed himself like a cat, licking, and even licking his paws and cleaning his face. The little apartment complex in which we lived housed a couple of 'resident' cats, one of which loved to laze outside the door of our apartment. Well, one day we took Max out on the leash and saw him react to the cat. We were nervous. But the cat didn't seem at all concerned and Max ran up to the cat and, using his nose, flipped the reclining cat over on his back! The cat loved it and he and Max became fast friends.
In the neighborhood where I now live, there is a neighborhood cat who wanders and visits. Once again, Max found a friend and the cat knew immediately Max posed no thread. It got so the cat would follow us inside after Max's evening walks. He had no interest in staying, just walking in and then being let back out.
Now it gets weird. When I had to put my beloved Max down, this cat stopped coming to the windows and the doors. He knew.
18 months later I get Sammie (indoor only) and this dang cat comes around again. Sammie and the cat are window friends and through the screen on the lanai friends.
To this day, since I was never a cat person before my Sammie, I believe that my sweet Max was training me that cats are really very awesome.
Thank you, my darling Max. Wait for me, Baby Boy.
