“In order to keep a true perspective of one’s importance,
everyone should have a dog that will worship him
and a cat that will ignore him.”
– Derek Bruce
Love is just a four legged word and dogs are the best four legs around! Could it be because they think we’re the best? When the world beats us up, our dog is there to say in a wag of his tail, “Don’t worry about a thing – You’re FANTASTIC! We’re together now – all’s good!”
Cats are a bit different. I love cats too, don’t get me wrong. I’ve shared my home with both dogs and cats. But there are definite differences between them. Here’s some I’ve noted. You’ll probably have more…
You can’t always count on a cat to be there when the chips are down. He may be hiding in a closet somewhere. When the world beats you up the cat might not be in the mood for cuddling either. They enjoy being alone. In fact, they won’t mind if you even go away for a few days. As long as they have some food and a litter box nearby life is good.
But a dog – oh a dog – He’ll be waiting at that door drooling for your return.
And Litterboxes – Ha! No Siree, Bob! They need to get out of the house several times a day to do their glorious business and do it wherever they dog-gone please too.
“Dogs are the leaders of the planet.
If you see two life forms, one of them’s making a poop,
the other one’s carrying it for him,
who would you assume is in charge.”
– Jerry Seinfeld
Cats are cuddlers. Nothing beats a purring cat cuddling with you, when of course the cat determines it to be the appropriate time to cuddle. For instance, when you’re eating a pint of ice cream. A cat likes to watch you eat it and not ask for any ice cream in return. Cats enjoy watching you get fat.
Oh, but not a dog. He’ll want to eat the whole pint and save you those calories. He cares. He’ll beg you for that ice cream and want to go running with you afterwards too. Dogs aren’t always cuddlers. Some are even lunatics. But usually it’s because of mistreatment by humans or some chemical imbalance of some sort. They’re a lot like people in that way.
“My dogs are crazy. They’re always getting into some kind of trouble…
but then again, they’re my most loyal friends.” — Zac Efron
My dog keeps me in shape. The longer the walks the better for both of us. I rather like getting pulled out into all the elements – rain, snow, wind. My dog loves it all, and he forces me to love it all too.
The other day I went trudging a mile through the snow with my dog. His tail wagging the whole time. I wouldn’t have trudged outdoors that day if it weren’t for him. He made me laugh as the wind pelted and snow piled up around us. What a glorious time we had together!
And that’s what a pet does – warms the heart. They remind us the world is bigger and better than our humongous egos. Even though we see the world through different lenses, pets demonstrate on a regular basis how truly interconnected we are. They validate how better we can be if we try just a little to take better notice of the simple things in life.
And they hold a low bar, which is good. No pressure there, at least for dogs. Cats of course raise the bar much higher and cajole you with their cute little cat eyes into raising your game. At least into considering life from a higher perch point.
Even so, if you’ve lately contemplated the world as ‘going to the dogs,’ maybe that wouldn’t be all that bad.
“If I could be half the person my dog is,
I’d be twice the human I am.”
– Charles Yu.
Joan Budilovsky can be reached at editorial@kcchronicle.com or through her website Yoyoga.com. Her new book, “Meditation’s for the dogs,” will be coming out later this year.
