Some Scotty Musings

Scotty is settling in nicely and learning our routine.  The one thing that I have noticed is that he likes  routine and does not care to stray from it.  Easter Sunday, we went to early church so that we could go to my parents for dinner at noon.  After church, we came home and let him outside and gave him some food and water.  Before we left, Scotty go to go out again and then was put into his cage with a toy or two to keep him occupied.  We then left and was gone until later in the evening.  He did a good job staying in the cage that long.  He did not make any messes and was glad to run free for awhile.  I stayed up a little later than usual so he could play, but when I decided it was time for bed he whined for awhile.  The next day, it was payback.  He had not pooped in the house for a week, but he sure tried on that Monday.  He peed several times and once I found him chewing on the corner of a recliner.  Very annoying.  He seems to do this, though.  Fairly well behaved considering his age, but then when we are not home he acts up later on.  Case in point:  the day I had my appointment with the urologist.  Chuck took a half day of vacation since the appointment was in the late afternoon and he could watch the kids.  While I was gone, Scotty made all kinds of messes for Chuck.  I guess he was not used to him being there at that time of day and he revolted in my absence.  The day of my surgery he was a little terror.  My Dad commented on how quiet and cute he is before I left, but then by the end of the day, he changed his mind.  Scotty pooped and peed and he managed to throw up while I was gone.  My sister said that with the dog and the kids my Dad finally said he had had enough and Scotty needed to go into his cage.  Scotty is not even 3 months old yet and he has become very attached.   The funny thing is that I wonder if he knew my feelings about him before he arrived if he would still be my shadow as much as he is now?  I was the lone holdout on getting a dog.  I didn’t want the fuss or the burden or the extra work.  I have tried very hard to not become to close to him, but every now and then I see myself and wonder just what in the heck I am doing? 

There are a few rules he must follow.  He is not allowed on the furniture; he can not go upstairs; he is not allowed in the bathroom; no chewing on furniture; no table food and no nipping or biting.  Chuck came looking for me the other day and he found me, asleep on the bed with Scotty curled up next to me.  Chuck will come home from work and I’ll be sitting in the recliner and Scotty is right there in my lap.  When I put the kids to bed, he follows me upstairs.  If I have to go to the bathroom, he will either try to push his way in or scratch at the door until I am done.  So, we have rules…..and rules are made to be broken…..but only by me! 

I got a real kick out of him yesterday.  He very rarely barks and I have really only heard him once or twice.  Yesterday, I was making the bed and he was just carrying on.  Barking and growling.  I came running out of the bedroom thinking that there must be something wrong, why else would he make such commotion.  But, here he was standing in front of the oven door seeing his reflection in the glass and just going mad over that “other dog”.  I called Bryce into the kitchen to see if he understood what Scotty was doing.  Bryce started laughing and said “Silly Scotty”.  Silly indeed.  The other day the boys were rolling a ball back and forth to each other and one of them missed it and it went rolling into the kitchen.  Scotty went diving for this kickball like it was some intruder and then snarled at it like it was going to eat us alive.  This 6.9 pound(official vet visit)canine is like having another toddler in the house.   Maybe that is why he and Brady get along so well.  Come to think of it, maybe I really have one less child and a second dog because Brady has been going around licking people instead of giving kisses.   They say a dog can assume a personality of it’s owners and it must be true.  For the past few days whenever Scotty has done something bad, instead of calling him Scotty, I have been yelling out the name Brady!!!  That’s all I need – a canine version of Brady – Lord help me!

Where is Scotty?

Where is Scotty? is something that I must ask two dozen times a day.  I am constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure he is not chewing on something or making a mess.  The cage training is coming along nicely.  He has been here a week and I can almost count on the fact that when he is in the cage overnight that he will not make a mess.  Now, when he is running loose in the house is another thing.  I am trying to learn his pattern and watch his movements to figure out when he needs to go outside.  The bad part is that I still need to go out with him or he just sits at the door. 

Also, those darn cats!  Scotty thinks they want to play.  Most of them have become used to the fact that he is not going away, but is here to stay, except for one.  There is one gray male(actually there are 3 gray males, but I can tell them apart)that thinks he needs to be the alpha cat.  Three nights ago, I heard this horrible screeching on the front porch.  At first, I assumed that the cats were”at it again”, but I thought that was weird because they never”do it” on the porch!  So, I turned on the lights and opened the door and here were 2 of the gray males having a real”cat fight”.  They were tangled up in each other and hissing and clawing and  then the skinny one broke free and tried to run away, but the other one got ahold of his tail.  Finally, “skinny” got free and ran up a tree.  “Big Boy”(that’s what I call him – he is huge)sat at the base of the tree and just coyly meowed, as if he were taunting “Skinny”.  I shrugged my shoulders and went inside.  Well, now “skinny” thinks he can do the alpha thing with Scotty.  Last night, he would circle around us and tried twice to lunge at Scotty from behind.  I was quick enough that I got him square in the jaw with my foot and sent him sailing a few feet.  He turned around and hissed at me and slowly came creeping back, like a tiger checking out his prey.  Funny thing is that I hissed back at “skinny” and he got scared and ran under the car.  Wimp.  So, a few hours later, I needed to take Scotty out and there was the harem waiting at the door.  I spied “Skinny” so I went and got a spray bottle and directed it straight at him.  Bullseye!  He went scurrying away and the others just looked amused.   

Bryce still has not warmed up to Scotty.  He sits on the couch laughing the whole time, but when you bring the dog near him – he freaks.  If Scotty gets a burst of energy and tears throughthe house at lightning speed, Bryce laughs so hard you would think he was going to pee his pants.  But,  he becomes a statue if you take his hand and try to have him pet the dog.  Bryce wants to know where Scotty is all the time, out of concern, but just from a distance.  I think I will call his specialist soon if this does not start to die down.  I don’t think it is very healthy for Bryce and we just can’t give the dog away now because the other two have become attached – especially Brady.  Brady is like a puppy still.  Bursts of energy that gets him all fired up to do unspeakable things.  He constantly is picking him up and carrying him through the house.  He has tried to take him upstairs and then slide down on his back with the dog in tow.  He also likes to tease Bryce by bringing the dog and trying to dump him in his lap – that gets Brady a timeout due to Bryce’s reaction. 

My Mom wants us to bring Scotty with us Easter Sunday.  I told her that I think she is nuts.  Mom then wants to know if the dog is cute.  I told her, “No he is not cute at all.  I purposely tried to pick the ugliest puppy in the kennel.”  What?  Of course he is cute.  But, I don’t think she will think he is so cute when he is peeing on her new white carpet.  Sorry Scotty, you’ll have to stay home.               

Welcome Home Scotty

I have finally succumbed to peer pressure.  I have been the lone hold-out, but my family has worn me down.  Last Thursday, on my birthday, Chuck, Brady and I went and bought a puppy.  He is a male cock-a-poo that was born Jan. 26.  He is black with a white stripe going down his throat to his belly.  At first, he was named Sebastian, but within 24 hours he has now become Scotty.  He is in love with the kids.  It took awhile for the boys to warm up to him, but now Brady rolls on the floor with Scotty crawling all over him.  Bryce is still hesitant.  He does like him, but from a distance.  If Scotty is on the floor, Bryce will climb furniture to make sure he is in a safe place, but when it comes time for bed, Bryce insists on sleeping on the coach whileScotty is in his cage in the living room.  The problem with that is the cage does not go in the living room.  We have a back room/mud room/wash room type area and that is where the cage goes.  Bryce gets very unhappy when we put him in it, yet he doesn’t want to hold him.  I am hoping that with each passing day Bryce will become more used to having him around and will be able to be more confident in reaching out to Scotty.  As for me, what I predicted would happen, has.  So far, Mom is doing the most work in caring for the puppy.  This is why I have been putting this off.  Doing a load of laundry has been a whole lot harder these past few days.  I’m cleaning floors, taking him outside to take care of business, I’ve stepped on him twice and I WORRY.  Worry – is he eating enough, have I bought the wrong food and it’s going to kill him, is he happy, is he sleeping too much, is he lonely(there were at least six other puppies in with him), will he get fleas, will I ever get him cage and potty-trained, what will our harem of cats do to him…………..Ugh! this is why I didn’t want a dog.  He follows me around and when I am sitting down he sleeps on top of my shoe.  He snuggles between my legs while I am cooking dinner and looks at me real pathetic when he poops on the carpet.  I am exhausted before dinner time.  It is like having another infant in the house.  It has been 2 1/2 days since he has been here.  I am just so mad at myself for giving in to Chuck and the kids.  I knew this would happen……………………….I have fallen in love.        

The Feline Harem

The time has come to discuss the cats,the herd of cats-our feline harem.  Actually, I don’t know if it really classifies as a harem since it is a mixed group of males and females, but nevertheless, it is time.  I will first point out that I AM an animal lover, but for the love of pete, this is out of control.  I do not want any PETA people tracking me down, because quite frankly I don’t have the time or energy to deal with you.  With that being said, let me introduce you to my families 12 cats.

We live out in the country and have some barns on the property that house dairy cattle and store hay and machinery.  My husband found two orphan kittens in a ditch one morning on his way to work.  He brought them home and we kept them for the kids and for mice protection.  Our daughter named them Lizzie and Chirpy.  they were all gray and very cute but, very menacing as well.  They would climb on top of the tires, they would be underfoot at all times and they were just too friendly.  Because of this, a few months later, Chirpy met her maker at the hands of the pizza delivery boy.  Poor kid, he was distraught and I think he thought I was going to turn him over to the authorities the way he acted.  Initially, I was upset, not over the actual death but, that I was going to have to explain to our daughter(who was 4 1/2) at the time that Chirpy bit the big one.  It is one of those parenting moments that you know you will have to run into at some point but, you just dread it anyways.

Well, months went by and Lizzie was able to deal with her sisters death – actually she dealt with it quite well – she got herself knocked up.  Lizzie stayed as a barn cat but, she spent most of her time around the yard and house.  A few days went by one July and I wondered where she had wondered off to.  My husband found her one night.  She was camping out underneath our old dishwasher that we had put in the garage and she had company.  Our precious little Lizzie was a proud momma to ……..one kitten.  I thought to myself where are the other ones?  I also worked in a veterinarians office and I knew this was unusual.  But, the more I thought about it, I decided why not only have one.  I mean weird things happen to me all the time why not this?  Besides, maybe we could control the growth in population better.  So, we welcomed Cutie Pie into our family.

A mother and daughter-how sweet they were.  They looked exactly alike with the only distinction being Lizzie has a white line down her neck.  So as time goes by, these two go “cattin’around” and think each time they can set up a nursery ward in our garage.  The most disastrous time was onespring when I was having a garage sale and Cutie Pie kept hanging around, trying to set up shop.  I took her down to the barn and in no uncertain terms let her know that Chez Hospitale had relocated.  So in retaliation she had 5kittens.  Lizzie soon followed suit, but hers all disappeared.  I’m not sure what happened to all of them but, I know that 2 of them met their demise under the hood of my husbands truck.  So, months pass and Lizzie keeps popping them out and they keep disappearing.  For awhile I thought maybe she had opened up her own adoption agency.  Two of Cutie Pie’s get hit on the road and our family becomes a little smaller.   Last spring, mother and daughter decided to populate again and had 11 kittens between them.  What a fiasco.  They both insisted on nursing in the garage and whenever someone came in or out the door, the kittens would scatter to parts unknown.  The funny thing about this group was that they didn’t seem to diminish very quickly.  And one fine summer day,  a black kitten from CP was sitting on top of some blankets in the garage.  The kids and I went to town and when we returned, she had had 3 babies!!  I decided right then and there that this was it.  I was not going to become outnumbered by a bunch of felines.  I shooed the kids in the house and went to back the van out of the garage in hopes that she would move them if she were not disturbed.  THUMP!  Well, cat population – minus one. 

The black cat’s kittens didn’t make it and there were a few more runaways.  12 cats is a lot and I have been bickering about it.  A few months ago, my husband came in from the barn and with a devilish grin said”I’m not sure where they came from or who they belong to, but add 5 more to the mix”!  The thing is that you know it’s bad when people start talking about “all of those cats”.  One night after Thanksgiving, our new neighbors came across the road to introduce the kids to our kids.  Their oldest, “J”, is 5.  He is very intelligent and has a very broad and understandable vocabulary.  He was chatting away with me about his family and his pre-school and the pets he had at home when all of a sudden he looks me in the face and in a very deadpan voice states”You sure got alot of cats around here”.  Pretty pathetic when a 5 year old can point out the obvious in a very clear, precise, matter-of-fact tone.  At that moment I knew that I was probably going to be coined as the “crazy old cat lady”.