I'm a cat person. Cats are fluffy little psychopaths that don't have time for anyone's bullshit. You know exactly where you stand with cats. If you are presently in good standing ( I say presently because this can change in an instant), they will use their head like a battering ram to soften up your arm or leg, and when you are sufficiently fluffed, will curl up into you and purr. It's delightful. But if you are currently out of favour with your fuzzy sociopath, they will attempt to draw blood if given half a chance and hiss at you simply for breathing their air. Come to think of it, I am very much like a cat. I am not easily amused, I generally am not excitable.... unless there is food involved.... and if I was given a choice between napping in the sun all day or going to "do something", its no contest.
Scott on the other hand is a dog person through and through. Optimistic, full of energy and happy to be here. It's fucking weird. Just seeing the bright side in every situation, rolling with the punches, never needing a concrete plan. And never having a mini breakdown in the yard over tomatoes. Yes that happened this week. It was a whole thing. I noticed the row of tomatoes I planted in the veggie garden was crooked. This in turn tweaked my OCD and I began to hyperventilate because things have been going so good and if the tomatoes are crooked, I have jinxed us. First it's crooked vegetables and then the house burns down because I forgot to clean out the dryer lint, you know? This thought then prompted me to scream, "WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS?!", and I started to cry. And not cute cry. I mean ugly cry. There was snot every where... and coughing fits because I inhaled my stream of tears one too many times. Not pretty.
Anyways... where was I? Right. Fucking lunatics, dog people are.
I have never seen Scott as happy as the day we got the call that his husky/white sheppard cross, Indi (who currently lived with my in-laws), needed to come stay with us. She had developed an insatiable thirst for chicken blood and had MUR-DERED 4 of the neighbour's chickens while AWOL from the yard. So needless to say, she had to get out of Dodge and quick.
I, on the other hand, was a little bit nervous. I had never had a dog and in general had never been all that fond of them. They are....shifty. BUT, Scott assured me he would be a great buffer and that Indi and I would get along just fine once we got used to each other.
My in-laws dropped Indi off on a Saturday and it had been going great. Mostly because Indi stuck to Scott like glue and I was not needed at all. But then Scott's on-call phone went off and he had to leave to go into work for a few hours. As soon as the door closed behind him, things got weird. At one point Indi and I were both sitting on the couch. I looked at Indi, Indi looked at me, then we'd both look away. This cycle continued for what felt like an eternity, until I couldn't take the silence anymore and blurted out, "Hey... do you like TV?". And Indi just glared at me with this look that said,"Bitch did you really just ask me if I like TV? I'm a DOG. Dumbass". And this exchange kind of set the tone of our relationship for the next week.
Over the following seven days she made it quite clear that I was no longer needed in the house. She had arrived and, in her opinion, Scott no longer required my services. I was like a toe fungus she just couldn't get rid of. After not letting her sleep beside Scott in the bed (that’s MY spot thank you very much), she peed on my pajamas while I was at work. When I didn't give her the left over scraps off my plate, she peed on my pillow the following day while I was out shopping. AND, on another day she pooped on my favourite rug for no apparent reason at all.
I was just about ready to tell Scott that this arrangement wasn't going to work and I would never EVER be a dog person, when we had a thunderstorm. I did not know this, but apparently it is quite common for pups to be scared of storms and Indi is no exception. With every crack of lightning and boom of thunder she started shaking more uncontrollably. Scott wasn't sure what to do for her, but this was something I could understand. Being so afraid and so anxious that there is nothing you can do besides shake and cry to let the tension out of your body. A completely illogical fear that cripples you and all reason slips away. I have been there way too many times to count. So I did the only thing that I knew would make me feel better if I was her. I grabbed my blanket off the bed and got on the floor with Indi. I wrapped my blanket and arms around her and held her until she began to still and the shaking stopped.
Maybe it's silly for me to think that Indi understood what I was doing, but it definitely changed our dynamic. There was no more peeing on my things and she started snuggling with me on the couch at night. That's right! Every once in a while I get chosen for a snuggle over Scott, and it is GLORIOUS! As much as I hate to admit it....I think I am 25% dog person. But don't tell the cats.... my last set of scratches are just healing up.
Love, Kay
