Our crazy animals!

     We have 2 dogs - a Min-Pin (Wolfie) & a Manchester Terrier (Skully). We also have 2 cats - Princess Fiona & Zoe. Fiona could not have been named any better if we had waited a year to name her. She is the priss of all prisses. The cat will not drink from the water bowl. She has to scoop up the water with her paw & drink from there. She will also only eat canned cat food if it is the shredded kind & then only if we chop it up even smaller. She will not eat treats as they are beneath her royal status. Her only vice of the common cat is catnip. She will roll around & act a fool over just a speck of catnip! Now, Zoe is a totally different story. I call her my ninja warrior. She will sneak up behind you, slap you & disappear! She has fought with Wolfie - WWE style - like they were equals. And at the sake of embarrassing my boy, it is with mixed feelings that I say she has properly kicked his ass! She will eat anything that doesn't move and has no qualms about eating treats. In fact, she asks for them & has learned to sit pretty to get them. Zoe will also fight with Fiona. But it is all in fun & they usually call a draw & walk away friends. Still it cracks me up to watch them because they look like those boxing cats you see on TV. Wolfie is our polite boy. He tries to get along with everyone but has had a rough time since he first moved in. Fiona had to establish her dominance by bitch-slapping him every time he came in her sight. They get along now & even cuddle once in a great while. And he is friends with Zoe too. She quit wrestling with him when Skully moved in. As a matter of fact, she relocated to the basement when he moved in! Skully is the newbie. A transplant from New York. He is a sweet boy but has abandonment & chewing issues. Wolfie has become a different dog since Skully came. He actually plays now. They roll around in the back yard snarling & growling like a couple of Pit Bulls about to do some major damage, but they are really just playing. And when Skully wants Wolfie to play he makes this sound like a Grizzly bear. It is too funny & I have to get it on video! They are best buds & totally inseperable. In fact, when I called to make sure the kennel had room for them when we go on vacation, I had to request that they be put together. (Yes, they are spoiled!)
     So I tell you all this to tell you about the craziness that happened this afternoon. You see it just wouldn't have the same effect if you didn't understand their personalities just a little. It was 5:30 & Josie had just fed the pets like normal. And like normal, Skully felt the need to harass Zoe. Poor thing hasn't ate in peace in almost a year! They were all eating - or so I thought - & all of a sudden I heard the biggest commotion & a blur of many colors flying past me down the basement steps. As near as I can figure, Zoe was in a zero-tolerance mood today & absolutely didn't want to be bothered by Skully. Either that or he tried to stick his nose somewhere it didn't belong - literally. There was exponentially more hissing than on a normal evening. After the commotion died down & the fur settled on the steps, I notice Fiona sashaying down the stairs. This is normal - she had just eaten her chopped & shredded cat food & was going, well, you can figure that one out. A couple of minutes pass & there is no noise from the basement. No hissing or barking. No "please play with me" whining. I call for him to come back up. Nothing. I holler louder. Nothing. At this point I start to get nervous because he usually comes to me the first or second time I call & there is total silence coming from the basement. I didn't even get a chance to call him a third time when the hissing started. Next thing I know here he comes with Fiona right behind him - hissing, running on three paws & slapping Skully on the ass with the other! About half way up he got disoriented - partly from the butt-whipping & partly from all the yelling I was doing. He went back downstairs until I called for him again. Meanwhile, Fiona waited for him right where she left off & when he passed her she continued the hissing & slapping all the way to the top of the stairs. Her tail was as big around as one of those static duster things. At this point I was some where between shock & laughing so hard I could have peed . I have never seen her chase one of the dogs down like that. He was so scared that he ran all the way to the bedroom & tunneled under the blankets until John came home. Fiona, on the other hand, just looked at me like "What?" & walked over to the the food dish. Zoe, come to think about it, I haven't seen since. But if she's hiding, nothing will bring her out until she's ready.
     I swear, I need to install cameras in every room just to get all the pet action. Some days it's like a zoo! Or maybe I could get a couple of those little cameras that fit on a collar. Those would be some crazy action shots. I do think I am going to get a little camcorder & record the boys outside this summer. They would be a hit on YouTube or America's Funniest Home Videos!

Zoe

 Skully & Wolfie

Fiona