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John P. Cleary
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MALEAH STRINGER: Waking up to the realities of pet ownership
I am not a morning person; none of my personal training clients will argue with this statement. It is one of my core beliefs since those clients force me to get out of bed at the crack of dawn during the week that weekends are made to sleep late. Generally this works out. But sometimes my pets do not understand this basic concept.
Because of the fireworks my dogs refused to go out to do their last business of the day July 4. I knew then this did not bode well for my sleeping in plan. And sure enough I was awakened at 5:30 a.m. with a long, cold Greyhound needle nose poked in my neck. I told her to lie down and, being the well trained prison dog that she is, she did. Then Jordie, my dachshund got a whiff of his favorite snack in the world. Fresh cat poop. This is to him what chocolate is to me. He looked like Superman flying off my bed. I streaked after him only to be about two seconds too late. He grinned at me with a poopy little smile. Meanwhile the others have joined in the game. Now, I have no choice; they have to go out to potty.
They finally come back in and settle down. I’ve just fallen back asleep when I feel a crushing weight on my chest and something dripping on my face. Ahhhhhhhhh. It’s my fat, feline boy Duncan standing on my chest staring into my face. He sometimes drools. He wants petted. I get up wash the drool off my face. It is now 6:15.
Once again I settle into sleep. Another greyhound needle nose in the neck. This time it’s Bella, Velvet’s taken her bed. She’s staring at me; then stares at Velvet. Velvet pretends to be asleep. I give up and tell Bella to come on up on my bed. I remind her she can’t spread out. As if she understands she gives me a greyhound smile, and yes they really do smile, and curls into a tight little ball. She is such a suck up.
Most of us go to sleep. Apparently a squirrel had the audacity to sit in my driveway. I’m reconstructing this since I was asleep. Tinker and Duncan are sitting on my antique library table with my stained glass lamp that I love. They forget the glass and go after the squirrel only to rebound off the window. Off balance they knock my lamp to the floor. The crash awakens the dogs who immediately start barking. It is now 8 a.m. I rush to the living room hoping for the best. The squirrel is still sitting in my driveway chattering away. Thankfully my lamp fell on a rug and was not broken, and yes I moved it.
It has become clear to me that this is not to be one of my days to sleep in so I gave up and gave the dogs their breakfast. They ate and promptly went to sleep. They looked so sweet, so peaceful. My heart was filled with love for them. As it was for the next few hours when I would gleefully poke each and every one awake.
We need foster families and dedicated volunteers for Animal Care and Control particularly for kittens and puppies. For an application e-mail: maleahstringer @aol.com.
Maleah Stringer, president of the Animal Protection League, is an animal massage therapist specializing in esoteric healing. She can be reached at maleahstringer@aol.com.
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