Quadruped chuckles

Having a dog and cat that hate each other would be pretty bad. Having a dog and cat that adore each other would be pretty cute, but after a while you would just take it for granted that they were always snugsy-wugsy. It may even be a little cloying.

Having a dog and cat who are quite fascinated with each other, but are still working out the power balance in their relationship - that's comedy gold. The double-take, the double-double-take, the slow burn, the fake insouciance, the completely-boneless posture betrayed by the darting eyes - it all leaves Ross and Rachel's travails in Friends for dead.

Mammal workshop

This evening Hattie and Winston and I had a mammal workshop. As senior mammal I facilitated, and both the others really took on board what I was asking of them, stretched themselves, took ownership of their dog/catness and made some meaningful steps, going forward.

Essentially I sat next to Hattie on the bed, Winston came over, and without them realising it I rubbed Winston's ear with Hattie's tail for a while. It was awesome. I guess they both thought "Hmm - that must be some other furry part of me".

Some thoughts on show jumping

Photo from WikiCommons

I was watching TV with Marcus yesterday when a snippet of show jumping came on. I said "look at those two mammals working together - what a team". He is well used to hearing me drone on this theme; that we are mammals, and we have to stick together with the other mammals; the hyrax, the kangaroo rat, Hattie, Paris Hilton - we are all in this together. He ignored me.

But [in some strange out of body way] I listened to myself, and it got me thinking - what if there was a version of show jumping open to ANY mammal-on-mammal team? We might arrogantly think we would have the other combos on toast. But would we? Imagine if you will, given a few alterations to the course and obstacles, how a koala on a greyhound would go. Greyhound:fast, koala: hangs on like nobody's business. What about a jack russell terrier on a cheetah? This time, the pup is providing the brains (cheetahs are not the smartest) while the cheetah is there for pure pace. And who wouldn't like to see a JRT in one of those little jackets?

In thoroughbred racing, the track is rated fast, good, dead, slow or heavy, depending on dampness. Imagine a track that started heavy then had about a billion squiggolitres of water poured on it. It's now rated marine environment. Now, imagine, instead of fences, there are hoops. Are you following me? Cue the team of dolphin and water rat. In terms of racecraft and cunning, you are going to have to go some way to beat the rat. The dolphin will be able to actually count the laps which can only improve its winning chances. Plus, if required, it can see off any attacking sharks. Even Seabiscuit couldn't do that.