People And Their Pets

I have always heard that pets get a lot of their personality from their owners. As I have started to date more over the past couple of years, I have started watching womens animals more and more to try to "match" personality characteristics and to see if I can figure out if me and a woman are going to be compatible through their animals. I have also found that a woman that doesn't have an animal at all is going to be the least compatible. Mine and Molly's personalities are a lot alike which may not speak much for my ability to stand out at social functions. Molly is a loner, more than content to be by herself or with a sole companion. She can make friends if she has to but would most of the time prefer not to. She keeps her guard up at all times and fiercely protective of the ones she is loyal to. She is also very loving of the ones she is loyal to. In other words, she is a one person dog, exactly like me.

Hey Jealousy

The Rock group The Gin Blossoms sang a song called "Hey Jealousy" that I think could have been written about Molly. She is the most jealous dog I have ever known. She doesn't want anyone else near me, talking to me, or even think about touching me. She is funny that way. I made the mistake of not socializing Molly when she was a puppy and she grew up thinking our social world existed of three people- me, Molly, and my now ex-wife. Her world did not expand much outside of that and she let everyone know when they crossed a border they shouldn't have crossed. Even now, Molly is like an old Buckingham Palace Guard. You are not going to get a smile out of her.

A Bologna And Cheese Sandwich

Molly has picked up a bad case of fleas from the flea bags that live in my apartment complex. With so many dogs, such a confined living space, and with the weather being a factor, that is going to happen. Add in the fact that some dog owners do not take care of their dogs like I do Molly, and you have an itching, scratching disaster. I am lucky in the respect that I pretty much live right across the street from a Vet's office that will sell me flea medication without seeing Molly. I picked some up yesterday afternoon and Molly hates taking her meds. I tried giving it to her in bologna (she would chew the corner off the bologna and spit out the pill), I tried bread (same result), and finally some good old American sliced cheese did the trick. I was getting frustrated but Molly got what amounted to a bologna sandwich out of it.

Evolution

I am not talking about evolution from the biblical perspective but from where the cats now think they can beat a dog's ass perspective. Molly and I ran into another cat this morning on our walk and the cat was fully prepared to come out swinging. He was under a truck and Molly sensed he was there and all I heard was a growl that sounded like a 454 under the truck's hood. He hissed just to let us know that one wrong move, he was going to slap all of the ass off of both of us. We made the collective decision to turn around and go the other way... Do cats not know that cats have been chased and slapped around by dogs for centuries? Are we dealing with a genetically altered "super cat"? What happened to the days of the Sylvester the Cat cartoons where the cat knew and respected dogs?

Molly The Helper

I am busy packing and preparing to move and Molly wants to help as much as possible. If I am working in one room and keep going from room to room, Molly makes sure she lays right in the door way to make sure that I notice her. I notice her every time I trip over her, have to make her move, or step on her. I will probably have to put her in the kennel the weekend that I move. She likes to walk in to familiar surroundings and so if I already have "her" room set up, she will immediately find herself right at home. A big yard and woods to play in, other dogs to growl and woof at, and she should be Miss Congeniality from the get go this time around.

A Black Cat

For centuries black cats have signified bad luck. Molly and I ran across one this afternoon on our walk and this cat signified malicious intent. I could tell Molly had sensed something in the area because of the way she was acting. That was about the time we walked up on this black cat on the sidewalk. It wasd solid black with green eyes and just looked like a long haired domestic cat. Most cats have the good sense to run from Molly like there hair is on fire but not this one. This cat looked at us like it was going to slap all of the ass off of both of us. Molly and I took off running and I will swear that this cat chased us across the parking lot. We lost a lot of face in the eyes of our neighbors because a man and his dog was running from a cat, but they did not see the look in this cat's eyes. We are still alive with our ass still attached. That is the important thing. Loss of our dignity is a stigma we will just have to live with.

Molly Has A Play Date

Molly is up for the title of Miss Congeniality in the neighborhood now. She had an impromptu play date with her old buddy Arlo this morning and it went much better the second time around. We were already in the dog park and Arlo came bouncing down the hill. We invited him and his owner in, Arlo brought his own toy, but Molly is too old for toys so that was not an option, but they still played. Molly only growled a little bit. Arlo, in the meantime, ran circles around Molly and Arlo reminded me of a young Molly. He could run all day and only needed to stop and rest for seconds at a time. Molly eventually got tired of playing but I believe she had a good time, even though she wouldn't admit it.

A Bad Day For Both

Yesterday afternoon, Molly and I were both having one of our bad physical days. Molly was feeling so bad she wouldn't even get off the bed when I came home so I decided to lay down and join her. I took about a 45 minute nap and when I woke up, my pinched nerve in my back was acting up again and I couldn't even move. We staggered outside for a very brief 10 minute walk and we only walked once more over the course of the evening. We were still feeling it when we woke up this morning so we slept in until 10:15. That is unheard of for either one of us. We both felt a little bit better this morning and we ran into Molly's new buddy Arlo at the dog park but I wasn't going to get Molly all worked up again. We both needed a day of rest.

The AC Is Back On

The AC is back on. We got it back on Tuesday afternoon in what was probably the hottest day of the afternoon. Molly was doing her Snoopy dance while I was standing buck naked in front of the air conditioning vent. It felt so good to have cool air again and actually have the temperature below 82 degrees inside my apartment. I did notice that Molly was much more active inside the apartment and the heat really takes a lot out of her. She probably sleeps much better as well. I know I did.

Sniff Your Own Butt

I am trying to turn Molly into a more sociable dog it it kills me and evidently it is going to kill me. I took her out for her afternoon walk this afternoon and we ran into one of the neighborhood dogs, Arlo, while I was out. Arlo's owner and I were standing there talking and I was already in the dog park, so I decided to invite Arlo in for a little "play date" just to see what Molly would do and how she would react. All Arlo did was chase Molly around trying to sniff her butt and Molly politely told Arlo to "sniff your own butt, mine is fine, thank you." Molly is just not going to be the sociable, congenial, life of the party I want her to be.