I know I am now officially a "dog person" because....
...even though I still am owned by a cat, I just told Laurel not to eat the contents of the cat's litterbox and when she looked at me with those trusting and innocent and yet simultaneously wise and all powerful look dogs have, I ultimately had to explain that it was just a silly human thing.
The cat's poo undoubtedly still has some nutritional content and I make that thing's catfood so I KNOW she's not going to get sick from eating it, I just can't stand the thought of Laurel ever having to FIGURATIVELY do something that she only wants to do literally because it is a perfectly reasonable thing for a dog to want to do.
I came here when Laurel was a puppy. I hadn't had a dog in forty-odd years and considered myself a die-hard cat person who was, unfortunately, unable to provide a proper home for a cat.
I guess you guys must have taught me a lot. Or if the people who actually read this are different guys, then I guess you guys are in the right place to learn a lot about dogs and puppies as fast as you need to.
Anyway, I just wanted to thank my former mentors for working themselves out of their volunteer jobs, lol. The most recent site upgrade is very pretty, but the software sure isn't kidding when it says you get a "better experience" with always-on javascript enabled browsers. You wouldn't BELIEVE what hoops I had to jump through just to find the (I hope) appropriate place for laughing at myself and expressing a bit of gratitude about how far I've come.
In light of the fact that most of the modern internet is written for people who are much younger than myself and have very different priorities and values about software, I probably shouldn't do it again.
Laurel being Laurel, of course she accepted "because it is an unreasonable thing and humans are unreasonable" as a reasonable answer and immediately left the kitty litter box alone.
Chocolate being Chocolate, I would just have asked her if she was hungry and offered some kibble. She is still the unadoptable dog I wanted to adopt but we have rehabilitated her as far as she can happily rehabilitate. She will always love children and she will never be safe in a home with children because she bites. She will always "get" me when I am too upset to make sense to my well-adjusted pets. She will always crap on the floor, even though she is perfectly housebroken, because she grew up in a household where the daddy hit the mommy, and she will always forget, once in awhile, that dogs have rights too and it is perfectly acceptable to remind me to let the dog out by running to the back door, excitedly wagging her tail, jumping up on the door as if the door were the most fascinating thing in the universe, and all the other tricks she has taught me to help me understand that even though I don't need to spend money on special "potty bells", she is NOT going to bark.
She just isn't. She has already earned her "retirement" by keeping that child safe and giving that mother a reason to live until the mother was ready to protect the child, regardless of the personal cost to the mother.
Chocolate isn't "collateral damage". She's loving the age of Social Distancing and teaching us all a lesson about resiliency.
I love my dogs and my dogs love me. We are still owned by a cat, but if that makes me a "cat person", then my dogs must be "cat dogs" and language is just plain getting too weird for me.
Many, many thanks for all of the patient replies to all of my strange and/or repetitive newbie questions in 2019 and early 2020.
The cat's poo undoubtedly still has some nutritional content and I make that thing's catfood so I KNOW she's not going to get sick from eating it, I just can't stand the thought of Laurel ever having to FIGURATIVELY do something that she only wants to do literally because it is a perfectly reasonable thing for a dog to want to do.
I came here when Laurel was a puppy. I hadn't had a dog in forty-odd years and considered myself a die-hard cat person who was, unfortunately, unable to provide a proper home for a cat.
I guess you guys must have taught me a lot. Or if the people who actually read this are different guys, then I guess you guys are in the right place to learn a lot about dogs and puppies as fast as you need to.
Anyway, I just wanted to thank my former mentors for working themselves out of their volunteer jobs, lol. The most recent site upgrade is very pretty, but the software sure isn't kidding when it says you get a "better experience" with always-on javascript enabled browsers. You wouldn't BELIEVE what hoops I had to jump through just to find the (I hope) appropriate place for laughing at myself and expressing a bit of gratitude about how far I've come.
In light of the fact that most of the modern internet is written for people who are much younger than myself and have very different priorities and values about software, I probably shouldn't do it again.
Laurel being Laurel, of course she accepted "because it is an unreasonable thing and humans are unreasonable" as a reasonable answer and immediately left the kitty litter box alone.
Chocolate being Chocolate, I would just have asked her if she was hungry and offered some kibble. She is still the unadoptable dog I wanted to adopt but we have rehabilitated her as far as she can happily rehabilitate. She will always love children and she will never be safe in a home with children because she bites. She will always "get" me when I am too upset to make sense to my well-adjusted pets. She will always crap on the floor, even though she is perfectly housebroken, because she grew up in a household where the daddy hit the mommy, and she will always forget, once in awhile, that dogs have rights too and it is perfectly acceptable to remind me to let the dog out by running to the back door, excitedly wagging her tail, jumping up on the door as if the door were the most fascinating thing in the universe, and all the other tricks she has taught me to help me understand that even though I don't need to spend money on special "potty bells", she is NOT going to bark.
She just isn't. She has already earned her "retirement" by keeping that child safe and giving that mother a reason to live until the mother was ready to protect the child, regardless of the personal cost to the mother.
Chocolate isn't "collateral damage". She's loving the age of Social Distancing and teaching us all a lesson about resiliency.
I love my dogs and my dogs love me. We are still owned by a cat, but if that makes me a "cat person", then my dogs must be "cat dogs" and language is just plain getting too weird for me.
Many, many thanks for all of the patient replies to all of my strange and/or repetitive newbie questions in 2019 and early 2020.
