I miss dogs so much!
My family has been looking to get a dog, but we already have four birds and a cat. It makes it tough to find a dog that would suit our house. A while back we tried a nearby animal rescue place, but we found that most of the dogs would require extensive training to be able to be around the birds. I was kind of sad because we found a really sweet dog named Brea. The only problem was that she wanted to eat our birds. The animal rescue place gave us a trial period to see if she would work, but we had to send her back to her foster parents. Since then we hadn't been actively searching, but we've always had dogs and we can't seem to give up looking for one that can live with us. I decided that we will probably have to start off with a young puppy. All our past dogs came as puppies and they either loved our small animals or at least tolerated their existence. Either way, being raised with other animals from the start made a world of difference in their behavior towards them.
Lately, I train the dogs of my friends and family so that I still get to interact with them. It's been fun, but it only makes me want my own dog even more. I love my cat, but I'm a dog person at heart. Sometimes I feel like my cat tries to do things outside of his nature to make me feel better. Ever since he was a kitten up to now(he's 9yrs old) he's always gone on walks with me outside. He loves it. I never knew any other cat in my life that does that. Sometimes he leads, and other times I lead. If he senses something that he thinks might be dangerous, he bops my legs with his paws until I change the direction that I'm walking. It's kind of funny to think that he thinks I'm in danger from some of this stuff. If a strange animal comes along, he sometimes jumps out in front of me and hisses. If the hissing doesn't work, he will often chase it down like some lion after a gazelle. When I've told other people about his behavior, they tell me that that isn't usual cat behavior. I've only had one cat in my life so I can't say if that's true or not. My cat goes in and out of the house as he pleases so he's not strictly an indoor or outdoor cat. The older he gets, the more he likes to be inside. He wouldn't like me getting a puppy, but I'm sure he'd get used to it after a while. When he was a kitten we still had a dog, and since he grew up with her, he loved her. They played all the time, but he takes a long time to get used to other dogs. I guess it takes cats a while to get used to anything new really. They sure are paranoid.
If anyone has any suggestions for my dog situation, I'd love to hear them. I've surfed the net on the topic but haven't seen much. While people recommend not getting certain breeds if you have small animals, I've seen a lot of situations where it all depends on the owner and if the dog is raised with the other animals.
I had to add a picture of my boy in here. =)
Lately, I train the dogs of my friends and family so that I still get to interact with them. It's been fun, but it only makes me want my own dog even more. I love my cat, but I'm a dog person at heart. Sometimes I feel like my cat tries to do things outside of his nature to make me feel better. Ever since he was a kitten up to now(he's 9yrs old) he's always gone on walks with me outside. He loves it. I never knew any other cat in my life that does that. Sometimes he leads, and other times I lead. If he senses something that he thinks might be dangerous, he bops my legs with his paws until I change the direction that I'm walking. It's kind of funny to think that he thinks I'm in danger from some of this stuff. If a strange animal comes along, he sometimes jumps out in front of me and hisses. If the hissing doesn't work, he will often chase it down like some lion after a gazelle. When I've told other people about his behavior, they tell me that that isn't usual cat behavior. I've only had one cat in my life so I can't say if that's true or not. My cat goes in and out of the house as he pleases so he's not strictly an indoor or outdoor cat. The older he gets, the more he likes to be inside. He wouldn't like me getting a puppy, but I'm sure he'd get used to it after a while. When he was a kitten we still had a dog, and since he grew up with her, he loved her. They played all the time, but he takes a long time to get used to other dogs. I guess it takes cats a while to get used to anything new really. They sure are paranoid.
If anyone has any suggestions for my dog situation, I'd love to hear them. I've surfed the net on the topic but haven't seen much. While people recommend not getting certain breeds if you have small animals, I've seen a lot of situations where it all depends on the owner and if the dog is raised with the other animals.
I had to add a picture of my boy in here. =)