-=> Richard Webb wrote to James Bradley <=-

 RW> NOt being a cat person I'm not that familiar with their
 RW> behavior patterns, but two things have to happen.  Get rid
 RW> [...] then deny them the area [...] removing the [safty] trigger 
... 
 JB> Not being a cat person either - it still didn't prevent me from
 JB> adopting  one from dad's estate. 

 RW> I'm glad I"ve never really had to do that.  Cats and
 RW> blindness are in some ways incompatible, unless you wish to
 RW> deny the cat traits which are hard wired into it for its
 RW> survival, which I'm not willing to do.  HEnce I don't have
 RW> a cat.  I've lived places where a housemate had a cat, and
 RW> the feline and I coexisted a bit uneasily, but for my own
 RW> part
 RW> I've not had a cat for those reasons.  I'm unwilling to
 RW> declaw one, those claws are a natural survival tool, as its
 RW> ability to move silently.  The second is anatehma to a blind man.

"Anatehma" Had to look that one up, and never *expected* it to be in the 
dictionary!  

Dad and the cat used to live next door, and was always welcome in my house 
if he needed a break from one of his many outings. I was once in charge of 
him for a week when the allergic BIL was staying with dad, so he was as 
comfortable here as I was relieved to send him on his way when he was 
getting demanding. (Something he was *well* trained to do. ;-) 

On dad's passing, it seemed the least traumatic for the cat - somewhere 
around Twelve y.o. at the time - and it didn't seem like it was going to be 
too much of an adjustment for me. (Boy, could *I* be shortsighted!) Dammit, 
if I didn't love the bugger, and he seemed to tolerate me so I had little 
choice but to keep things as calm as I could, so now I have a boss!

 RW> I have to laugh at people that say "... doesn't get up on
 RW> the couch."  YEah right, soon as you're not around fido's
 RW> on the couch snoozing away.  HE hears your car pull up, off
 RW> ...

 JB> Well trained/conditioned. If the pet misses the sound of the engine
 JB> pulling up, the familiar jingle of the keys in the lock give them
 JB> the  definitive clue to get off the furniture. All is well in
 JB> Fido-land. 

 RW> YEp, and the unpleasant part becomes your arrival if
 RW> caught, which isn't what you're going for.

I shudder when a person *finally* gets their pets to come, (Yes, cats 
'round here seem to even go out for walks, including mine!) and proceed to 
scold them for note coming earlier. What a reward!

 RW> 

 JB> I told a new mom that every parent should be required to own a dog
 JB> ...
 JB> necessities of life to an animal,  and learn how to coexist with any
 JB> modicum of harmony and decorum, a "baby  license" should not be
 JB> issued.
...
 RW> By my own standards I wouldn't have received one .
 RW> At the time I was parenting the music was #1, and all other
 RW> numbers in single or double digits.

I'll wager that you'd be a better parent than you make yourself out as. 
I'll also put money on it, that I *wouldn't* be as good as I suspected. No 
matter. Most of them make it up as they go along, and as long as they more 
for the good... (Deliberately ellipsing the negative.) Even still, out of 
the worst scenarios some greatness can arise, but if basic needs are being 
met - hence my "Own a dog first!" philosophy.

...
 JB> of king mattresses rest on  two smaller box-springs, so that would
 JB> have been the way to go.

 RW> THat's the way this one was set up, two queen size box

No, those would be *way* too big. Likely two singles add up to one 
king-size. A queen is a couple-four inches smaller than a king.

...
 RW> friendly local library.  From some of the questions he's

 JB> Oh, I would even encourage him to entertain the grumpy librarian,
 JB> and  travel some distance if need be.

 RW> .

"Shhhh... Be vewy vewy quiet.... " 

...
 RW> remember that canines are indeed social animals, they're
 RW> pack animals by nature, it's hardwired in.  ONe has to
 RW> assert pack leadership status or the canine will assert it.
 RW> After all, somebody *must* lead the pack.

"My dog ALWAYS eats before I do." Who's the leader of *that*
pack? 

I'll charge, that *any* animal is social. Where a feline differs the most, 
is it will first try to leave a pack, where a K-9 is always looking to join 
one. Dad - also a staunch "dog person" - had two cats including this one 
here. When my dog would visit dad and his two cats, this one would slink 
away, and his former cat and my dog would fight. (Actually, a *very* 
spirited play.) As long as the dog was gone, this cat was boss.

 JB> My first and only dog was a Spaniel-Terrier (suspected... His dad
 JB> was a  fence jumper.) As such, he was greedy with food, and *loved*
 JB> his  independence. Since his passing, I learned a new trick to
...
 RW> INdeed, I can see that in those.  Rotties are a bit stubborn too
 RW> .

My guy was ironically marked *exactly* like a Rottie, but with three white 
boots. He was very protective of the home too. One spring day, I had the 
balcony door wide open. While I was pharting around with something or 
another, I noticed him alert to the side of the balcony but quiet as a 
mouse. Just as I heard the clink of a bicycle chain on my front walk, he 
goes ballistic less than two feet from a traspasser's ear. I watched that 
bicycle waddle down our front walk in a slow speed wheel-wobble all the way 
to the parked cars on the street. How he kept it out of the dirt was more 
luck than anything but my, was he ever close to planting his face into one 
of those cars.

 RW> 

 JB> When you mentioned Ceasar, my notion went towards Rome. 
 JB> ... A pet owner should not however ignore other sources.

 RW> INdeed, I wish I could recall some of the other good ones
 RW> I've seen over the years, I'd offer Matt title author and
 RW> isbn, but I can't at the moment.

I haven't had a need to do any research for years. Health is likely to keep 
me from (humanely anyway) having another K-9 under my charge. Cats can find 
their own way. 


... Science asks how. Philosophy asks why. Cats couldn't care less.
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