Straight Talk about Dogs and Cats

by Tanner

© Carrie Boyko
Tanner Prefers Fetching Toys
to Chasing Cats

Let's face it. Some of us were created to chase smaller creatures. Me? I'm a duck-kind-of-guy. Yup! Golden Retrievers are supposed to go fetch the duck after the hunter shoots it.

Me and my mom aren't much into shooting, even though I do think ducks are really cool. We play fetch with all sorts of other toys though. My favorite part is playing it in the pool; I love to swim after the toys and bring them back to her. You can learn how too, here.

But I digress; this was supposed to be about cats. Back to smaller creatures. Cats get us dogs' attention by being stealth. They sneak around the room, acting like we probably don't see them, and then suddenly dart across a piece of furniture. That's where the trouble comes in. I had to teach Patches that myself. Even mom didn't quite get it.

Once Patches realized that I would remain calm around her, as long as she was calm around me, we began to become quite friendly with one another. Now we sniff each other every day (it's a greeting thing) and make sure we're always sociable. That's good, cuz I get my feelings hurt whenever anybody--furry or not--refuses to greet me.

Mom's working real hard on a series of articles to help dogs and cats with this problem. Keep an eye out for the rest of her series. Here's her intro. Funny title, but I guess it gets the message across.

One last thing. Apparently mom has some really cool cat gifts ready for the winners of a drawing at the end of her series. She's really excited--giddy--so I guess this is cool cat stuff. Tuna, maybe?