Ninja and Bootstraps

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Why do dogs and cats not like each other? Is it instinct or is it learned? I've never been able to figure that one out, especially since you can raise a kitten and a puppy together and they are often quite friendly.

So just recently Ninja has started to go after cats. I have no idea what he'd do if he actually caught a cat. Maybe he'd lick it to death- I don't know. He makes a posture of dominance at the orange cats who live on the street below us as we pass by on our walk to the park. They just look back at him.

Our neighbors (the ones who have Bingo the Jack Russell and where Ninja got stuck in the yard) have a black and white cat names Bootstraps. He's a really beautiful cat and is often found sunning himself in the yard near where the kids are playing outside. He was wild when he adopted our neighbors, but he doesn't look like a wild thing. He pretty much won't take any crap from anyone, especially not Ninja.

Bootstraps was outside the other day with the kids when Ninja went outside with me to take out the trash. He saw Bootstraps and took off running at him. Bootstraps retreated into the bushes, but wasn't going to take any more than that. Ninja charged at the bushes and the cat came flying out, with a snarl. Ninja retreated. So did Bootstraps. Then Ninja went back at the bushes and Bootstraps came back at him. I think Ninja got his nose swiped because along with a cat snarl I heard a puppy yelp.

At this point all the neighborhood kids and I were laughing at Ninja's antics and we were all cheering on the cat. I mean, Ninja has almost 30 pounds on this little guy and he was completely holding his own. But before anyone got hurt I decided to call in the dog and give the poor cat a break.

I'm still looking to get a cat to avoid any more rodent issues, but I'm wondering how Ninja will take to him.

On another note, did I mention that my car windows are fixed? I was lucky to find the right part on eBay motors for about $150. DH fixed it in about 5 minutes. I also just orded a new cup holder (to replace a broken one) to help avoid any more spills on the center console, which is apparently rather sensitive to we spills, according to Mercedes. No kidding. We've done pretty well making repairs on our own, since owning one of these beautiful cars can be quite expensive to keep up. The labor is the really expensive part.