ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?

Believe it or not, I used to hate dogs and cats. Over the years, I had a few pets, but things always seemed to go wrong. Like the year one of them got on the table (while we were gone to church) and ate all of the cream puffs I had made for our Easter Celebration. Since I had been eating only bread and water the two days prior to that event, let's just say I was a bit testy. Rather than kill him, (which, truth be told, is what I fantasized about doing the entire time I was making a new batch of cream puffs!) Instead, I did the noble thing and banished him to a friend's farm for the remainder of his days.

When I started doing home care, I came in contact with many dogs and cats, as well as much dog and cat hair. In the beginning I tried to ignore them/it, while at the same time trying to look interested enough to be polite. As time went on, I began to note what a postive impact pets had on their owners sense of well-being. In certain instances, these pets were the only interaction some of my clients had during the day. Caring for their pets gave them something to focus on besides being lonely and alone. I decided these little critters might have a useful purpose after all, but I still didn't want to have one of my own.

One day, my friend shared the joyous news that "Porch Kitty" had just had kittens. (Again!) It seemed one of the kittens had a funky looking paw. I went to check it out and determined the paw was internally rotated. I fashioned it a little splint, and started giving it physical therapy of a sort. Now probably, it would have corrected on it's own, but by the time the little fellow was walking on his own I had bonded with it (sneaky little thing!) and we ended up inviting him to live with us. (In the picture this is the dark colored cat)

Time passes, as it always does, and (through no fault of my own )I began to want a dog. Was I nuts? A friend of a friend of a friend told me about a dog that was being cared by someone because when she tried to get his owner to put some straw in his outdoor house the owner had his kids bring the dog to the lady and tell her "My dad said if you like this damn dog so much, you can have it." She already had several dogs and was out of room. (Enter the white dog in the above picture.)

The yellow cat was a reward for my youngest being brave when she had to have several teeth pulled at the beginning of her orthodontic work, and the black and white dog is purely the result of me being a softy. I even paid money for her, but my youngest assured me it really wasn't that much because the other three were free so if you divide the cost of the one up between the four they were all pretty cheap. (Total and complete mush I was........)

So! How does one go from dog hater to someone that now let's them in her bed, eat off her dishes, (Don't worry, I have a dishwasher.) cuddles them when they get sick, buys special treats for them when I go shopping, allows them on all of the furniture, (and to mess with my throw pillows) cleans up after them, actually pays more for a hair cut for one of them than I pay to get my own hair cut, etc...? Partly it is because I started making an effort to stop cutting my feelings off just to avoid getting hurt. The more I was able to do this, the more I discovered there really is lots of love in the world, our for the taking. I also found that the more I learned to love and be loved by my pets, the more love I had inside of me to share with others. The more we give love to those around us, the more love comes back to us. Dogs and cats have figured this out. (Along with how to sit, beg, and look so darn cute that we have to get a second job just to aford all the treats we feed them.)

If you want to learn how to wrap someone around your finger study a dog for awhile. Their trade secrets: Always appear to be listening, and never talk back. This way your victim gets the sense of being heard as well as never being wrong. Come when called most of the time, but part of the time get them to call you a few times before coming, so that when you finally do show up they think it was somehow something they said or did. You also increase your chances of being rewarded every time you do come when called by implimenting the "don't come every time on the first call" rule. If you do irritate them by making a mess and/or barking too much simply look up innocently at them with sad puppy dog eyes filled with love and devotion, and instead of being mad at you they will end up giving you a treat. If your victim has a favorite chair be sure and always be sitting in it when they are ready to, and remember not to be too quick to jump out of the chair. By holding out, they will either give you a treat to get rid of you, share the chair as you move to one side as they begin to sit down on top of you, or best of all let you balance on the arm while they sit, and then let you stay when you plop down on their lap. Finally, no matter how crappy your day has been (cooped up in a cage all day, or completely bored secondary to having had no one to play with all day long) always greet your victim at the door tale wagging, yapping about how glad you are that they are home. Before you know it, your victim will be totally at your beck and call, even as he/she thinks that they own you, and are completely in control of you!