I didn't have a chance to write about last week since things have been busy. My brother and his family are on their way in so I'm getting this in as fast as possible so that I can finish cleaning. I swear I just cleaned everything last night and it's already messy again! How is this possible?

 I met a new cat at Petsmart today, named Seven, who is as cute and sweet as can be. Ella found a mouse toy while I was cleaning her spot and seemed disappointed when I had to put her back in. But I made sure to give her the mouse she was playing with and she went nuts playing with it. It was pretty funny.

 Afterwards, we stopped in at Muddpuppies to get the boys food and treats. Innova Evo is by far the favorite food in my house - all I have to do is open a can and everyone swarms me. Clyde got a couple more containers of his frozen yogurt flavor and I decided to try Friday's flavor too. Friday, the black lab, is owned by the Weruva distributor. He usually brings her to the store on Wednesdays or Thursdays. Clyde loves her.He's not a fan of her frozen yogurt flavor though! He loves his flavor.

  That is all for today. Dewey is going to be so excited when he sees the baby in a couple of hours. I can't wait to watch him with her.

 

It's called D.R's Blog and it's hilarious to me. Ever entry is written from the dog's point of view. I love it!

  This has to be quick because my IT helper is letting me know he isn't pleased that I'm paying attention to the computer and not him. How dare I!

 Clemetine was sweet as usual this morning. She came out to explore and greet some of the other cats. Like everyone else so far, she seems to like Uno.

 

 Then there's Ella. I forgot to write about her previously. What a girl! I adore her! I petted her for about 10 minutes this morning. She has a very sweet personality.

 

 The Berry Kittens were really active today and they put on a great show for anyone who walked by.

 

 Okay, now I have two IT helpers.....must type faster.

 

 Sorrel was a good boy as usual. He'll jump out to sniff everything and greet Uno. I should have let Uno, Toledo, and Sorrel play today.

 

  KiKi is a new cat this week. She looks like Figaro from Pinocchio and she loves getting attention.

 

 The most entertaining cat today was Adonis! We both took some time out to give him extra cuddles and play time. He's really active and extremely affectionate.  

 

 Star, for the first time ever, greeted me this morning and she also wanted some head and belly rubs. Star is a sweetheart.

 

  Uno and Toledo weren't as playful this morning as usual. When I let them out I usually yell "GO!" and then start humming the Yakety Sax song while they take off. I think I'll have to start that for the kittens since they're a lot more playful and silly.  

 

 Happy play time hide and go tag has begun so I can type more now....

 

  The one thing that really drew me in to this rescue in particular was that every single cat I met was really sweet and really, really good. I think that says something about the fosters for these animals. There isn't one cat I haven't wanted to take home with me.  

 

 Oh, IT helper #3 thinks he's a cat too and so he's getting in on the action and now #1 is back on my keyboard demanding attention. I better go so my attention starved boys can get some love.  

 My first encounter with a chow was completely ordinary and uneventful. One of my grade school friends had a cream colored pure-bred chow named Dandelion or "Dandy" who was a pretty chill, quiet dog. He hung around us a lot and let us pet him. He never really barked and never ever growled. As far as I was concerned he was a nice dog, but he was just there. I can't even remember what he looked like except brief fleeting memories of the color of his fur.
   Fifteen years later (wow!), I got Clyde. He was very scared and he growled a bit when I got too close, but by the end of the evening I had myself a sweet, loving dog.  He turned 4 in January and although we've had a lot of trouble with his separation anxiety, I look back on the past four years and feel so lucky to have a dog like him.
   Until the point where I owned one, I had actually never heard anything bad about chows. Suddenly I had everyone in the world telling me "Ohhhhh...." and giving me a look when I'd say Clyde was a chow. Of course, if I said he was a chow/akita mix (a chakita, heh) then the reaction would be even bigger and some people would say "He must be an intense dog!"
Nope! There have even been occasions when we're approached by someone who is interested in him and they'll pet him and make over him and he'll just sit there with his happy face on. Then they ask what breed he is and everything changes. I've had people do a 180 and say "Oh, he looks mean."
Does this looks "mean" to you:

   Upon hearing the breed, their opinion changes even though that's not what they're actually experiencing with the dog.  I've heard similar stories from pitbull owners who say everyone loves their big babies until they hear what the breed is. I guess that weird way of thinking is right in line with a study that came out a few years ago stating " People are influenced by gossip about others, even when it contradicts what they see with their own eyes..." 

  It's nearly impossible trying to find a place to rent with chow (the same with rotties and pitties) because no one wants to take a chow. Their excuses were "We don't want any aggressive dogs here."  I would get so angry and scream "So you're letting the mean, untrained, highly-aggressive whatever live here because it's a whatever and my gentle, sweet, trained, completely unaggressive good boy is banned just because he's a chow?  How in the heck is that policy keeping the "aggressive" dogs out then? Because you're still allowing aggressive dogs in and banning dogs that are fine solely because of their breed!" I've never gotten a response to that. Most of the time the people who are fearful of chows won't approach me at all. I've seen parents grab their children in fear and pull them close when I've walked by with Clyde. Contrary to  popular belief, chows are not bad with children:

    Chows are some of the best dogs I've ever known. Now I know quite a few people who own chows (one couple owns around 13 chows on their farm!) and we all say the exact same things. How loving and sweet they are. How funny they are. If you love cats then you'll love chows because they're very cat-like. And it takes a certain kind of person to own a chow because they're not like other dogs. The best post I've ever seen about chows came from Tales & Tails of New York, a blog I read a lot. I'm having trouble finding her post at the moment so I can't link directly to it. A commenter responded to her post saying "After reading what you wrote, I would think everyone would want a chow! They sound like fantastic dogs!" They are.

   Her post from today (They Die for Incompetence --and Lies) got me to write this post because I'm thinking about how I think chows are easily recognizable dogs for their distinct characteristics, but I'm amazed at how many people can't tell the difference between a chow mix and some other mix of breeds. I can't count how many times I've been stopped by someone in a park who tells me their dog is a chow mix too. Now, I won't say their dog has no chow in it at all - because honestly, I'd never know unless they did a DNA test since the chow genes could be recessive, but as far as I can see the dog doesn't have any chow personality traits nor does it have an physical traits other than possible blue spots on the tongue or having a lot of fur, or a general spitz look. The most common thing I hear is "My dog is a chow mix too - he has a spotted tongue!" Having a blue or spotted tongue isn't a chow-specific trait. Read here.

  The misidentification of dogs can be a problem in this society considering the hysteria surrounding dog bite/attacks. So you have bites/attacks being attributed to certain breeds when the dogs in question are not of that breed, thus causing that breed to have a bad name.

 I'll finish this later.  

The cat and bear best friends who simply can't bear to be apart

 I'm taking a break from painting right now to post a picture of the new window seat I bought the boys earlier today.

It's already a favorite spot.

 

 

   In addition to the pitbull post I have hidden because it's not finished, I'm working on one about chows in my head. But I'm so gosh darn lazy I can't bring myself to write/finish them yet. I have 50% of my data for the pitbull post like the bite pressure of their jaws and the national average of temperment tests of bully breeds as compared to other more popular breeds, for example. The only thing I'm really having trouble finding is the website for the group who takes pictures of accused dogs in bite/mauling cases to prove that the media usually either lies about the breed of the dog to make the case more sensational or they don't publicize cases that obviously don't involve bully breeds.

 My chow post is going to be mostly my own experience of having one and the things random people have said to me about my dog.
 
  Maybe this week I'll have time to go to my mom's to get the big box of articles/chapters for the dominance post. 

    Since we moved in last Thursday, we've had to take Clyde out either on a leash or on his tie-out because the yard isn't fenced. Fencing the yard is one of our priorities but we haven't had a chance to even look at fence prices yet because we've been so busy. Last night I put Clyde on his tie-out and let him do whatever he wanted while I wandered around the yard.
   Our back yard butts up against a cemetery and that's where Clyde generally wants to go - I have no idea why. I was watching the sunset behind the rows of headstones at the other end of the yard when Clyde noticed a rabbit and took off after it. "OOh! That's gonna hurt!" I thought, expecting him to snap back one he reached the end of his tether. But that didn't happen. His collar broke when the tie-out snapped back. I screamed and took off behind him, but he is a fast bugger for a chow chow! By the time I made it to the front yard I couldn't see him anymore and even more panic set in - he doesn't know this neighborhood! Then he came running by and got distracted by a pole. I went to grab for his collar to take him home, but it wasn't there (I didn't know it had snapped off at that point). I freaked out, worrying how I was going to get him home. If he'd see another rabbit between there and home, I couldn't hold on to him with just his fur, so I picked him up and carried my big lug chow/akita mix all the way home. He looked humiliated and then sad as I scolded him. I was shaking and almost in tears because I don't know what I'd do if he got hit by a car or lost.

  

   It was sad to see so many of the same cats at Petsmart this week. They're all wonderful but for some reason they're not finding homes. Cadbury really broke my heart. As soon as I opened his door, he jumped onto my shoulder and stayed there until I had to put him back in. Then he proceeded to watch me, meow, and stick his paws out trying to get to me for the rest of the time I was there. Poor guy! Princess Vespa even came down from her perch to get attention yesterday. Sorrel, Uno, and Toledo had a good time playing together and they even gave each other kisses. If I could take them all home with me, I would! Clementine was as sweet as usual yesterday too.

   Then we headed to Muddpuppies, a store we've been patronizing for at least a couple of years, to get some food for the boys. I have to admit, I like it much better now that Amy took over. She always tries to get in new things for everyone to try and she orders all the hard to get foods. I can't wait until their pet wash is up and running! When we got there, Megan called us over to show us the new homemade doggie ice cream because she made one especially for Clyde: Clyde's Crunch. A blend of  yogurt, crunchy peanut butter, and honey!

 Clyde loved it! He gave his flavor two paws up and a tail wag. I was so excited Amy and Megan did that for us. And it was awesome to see the two store foster cats: Jack and Jill. They have personality and they're hilarious! Jill claimed the bed in the window and took a nap with the giant frog sharing her bed. Jack was interested in the cat food we were buying for our boys so he followed us around. I would take them home with me too!

This is for Angie because Dewey was her foster cat before I adopted him.

•  I bought these beautiful bamboo blinds for my bedroom. Upon inspecting them, Dewey discovered he liked the sound they made when he rapped his paws against them and he liked the feeling. BUT he only liked to rap them at night because rapping them in the daytime when everyone is awake is no fun. Nothing worked to deter him away from the blinds. Then one night he had me laughing until I cried because he knew he shouldn't do it, but he wanted to do it anyway. Dewey quietly crept up to the window, stretched to reach the blinds, and raised his paw. He paused and turned his head to see if I noticed him. I did, but he didn't know that. Then he so very gently and quietly ran his paws down the blinds. It was barely audible. He stopped and looked over to see if I heard it. I did, but he didn't know that. Then he went full out, having a great time rapping the blinds.
  
• He loves my baby niece. Whenever she's over he'll follow us from room to room so that he can sit next to her once we put her down. He even likes to sit on the bed next to her while we change her diaper. Once she grabbed a handful of his belly fur while he was watching her get her diaper changed and he was so gentle. Instead of hissing or biting or scratching to get away, he did the cat equivalent of shrugging his shoulders and just laid down. She's in town again this weekend. I had her sitting, facing me, on my kitchen island Friday night when he jumped up next to her and gave her a kiss on her face.
  
• He sometimes pets the dog. I'm sure he sees everyone else do it and he figures that's what you do to dogs. Or maybe he thinks the dog is his pet?
  
• Occasionally, I'll hear a loud clamoring in another room and when I go to check it out, I'll see him either doing something or on top of something he shouldn't be - like the stove. He'll jump down and then look at me like "What? I wasn't doing that!"
  
• When he sleeps on the bed he can somehow manipulate me while I'm sleeping into weird positions so that he can curl up in whatever spot he wants. One morning I woke up with my legs up. I never sleep like that and it felt pretty awkward. Then I moved and realized he was curled up sleeping under my legs.
  
• He loves to talk! When I first adopted Ollie his foster mom said he'd been returned a few times and she kept emphasizing what a talker he was. Ollie whines and makes noise, but it's really not that much. Dewey is the talkative one. Sometimes I hear him in another room talking to himself.
  
• When he's really happy he scrunches his paws while purring. It looks like a human opening and closing their hand.
  
  

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• He thinks the bathroom is the most interesting place of all time. Sometimes he just hangs out in the tub. Sometimes he plays games by hiding between the shower curtains. If I'm in the shower, he'll jump up and poke his head in to watch the water. He loves watching the toilet flush - that's all I say about that.
  

 
 That's all I can think of at the moment. I have tons of funny stories, but I'm work and I'm blanking.