Our home wouldn’t be complete without the cutest puppy in the universe and our foster pet, Shooter. The Future was not in favor of leaving Mt. Vernon to move to a house. The Schatz and I were trying to sweeten the deal, and we offered a dog. A cat that The Future had rescued already lived with us, but a dog had been forbidden by the rules of our co-op.
One Sunday, before moving, we trooped off to a pet store that allowed you to play with all the puppies. I had a certain breed in mind, and while the store did not have that particular dog, The Future and I were soon petting and playing, kissing and hugging to our hearts content. Unbeknownst to us, The Schatz had made a deal for the store to find us our dog.
We got a phone call not long afterwards to announce the arrival of our newest family member. They were willing to hold her until we actually moved into the house. So on December 17th, The Schatz and I and The Future met with the sellers and the legions of realtors and lawyers, signed all the paperwork, wrote all the checks, hugged and kissed the sellers and wished them luck in their new life, promised to take good care of their home, and met the movers in our new driveway. When everything had been carted in, The Future and I drove to the pet store and picked up the cutest puppy in the universe. The Future named her after his favorite NBA player, Bob Cousy:
Our dog, whilst cute, tenaciously knows her mind. As long as the program is working to her specifications everything is lovely. And she has relatively few needs. She likes to be with us. Because she was but 10 weeks old, and not trained, I wasn’t willing to let her run around the house unsupervised. And I had a house to unpack. But I found if I put her in an empty packing box, and dragged it from room to room as I worked, she was happy.
And so it continues to today. Cousy’s main goal in life is to be with her people. She doesn’t care what you are doing, as long as she can sit with you. She loves everyone. She loves us, she loves the UPS man, she loves food delivery people, she loves the Girl Scout that sells us cookies, she loves our friends that visit our house, she loves her vet, she loves her groomer, she’s a people puppy. She’s all wags and wiggles. If you see her walking in town one day, please come up and introduce yourself. If you don’t, and she sees you, she’ll cry.
The Future adopted a kitten a couple of years ago in the spring during his Junior year of college. At the time, he was living in an apartment in Mt. Vernon. He loves his cat and his cat adores him. During the following college basketball season, when The Future is at his busiest, he worked his usual seven days a week, 15+ hours a day. I didn’t think that was fair to the cat, so I offered to foster him during the season.
I adore Shooter. At the end of the season, The Future suggested Shooter continue to stay with us and I willingly accepted the concept. Shooter is the feline embodiment of The Future. He knows what he wants and will not give up until he gets you on board. And for the most part, he wants to go outside. Morning can’t come soon enough for Shooter. He is almost three now, and he and I have settled into a routine. I let him out first thing in the morning. He comes back inside before I leave for work.
Shooter, also named by The Future, loves to jump. He jumps just because he can. I often pass him in the house, eyeing a potential spot, as if to say “I can make that”. And he does. He loves to jump on top of doors and sit, perched, waiting for you to come by. He jumps on top of the kitchen cupboards and the seven foot high display cabinet. He spends part of his day on the roof of our house. Sometimes, I hear him crying to be let in, and when I go to the door and call his name, his head pops down from the roof. And because he is only comfortable coming in from the deck, you can track his steps as he gallops across the roof to the other side of the house; where he jumps onto the deck and then swaggers into the house.
If we don’t let him out, he will look for ways to let himself out. He can open the screen door of our deck. He is very agile and quick, and can slip out the door as you come in, without you knowing it. Of course, this works against him too. I have heard him crying, and upon investigating, found him shut in a closet.
He and Cousy get on. They run together and wrestle each other. She does not like him to be in the bedroom, ‘her’ room. But as her arthritis prevents her from getting on my bed, he simply walks in at night, jumps on the bed, and watches television with me. At some point, he leaves. I think he likes to sleep in the guest chair of my home office.
After our older cat died at the end of last year, I felt Shooter was isolated; as if he did not have a proper place in the house. In the two and half years he had lived with us, I had never heard him purr. So earlier this year, I began a concentrated effort to spend individual time with him each day. I hold him, and pet him, kiss him and talk to him. He wasn’t comfortable with this attention at first. He would hold his body rigid, and the moment I relaxed my grip, he would jump down and slink away. But he looks forward to it now. He often stalks into my home office and jumps on the desk when I’m working at home to sit with me. (There is also a window there that he likes checking out.) And after many months, I finally heard him purr. He is now at home in my house. And because of Cousy and Shooter, our house is truly a home.
Very well written Noreen! We certainly have a household full of “characters”. But it ceratinly is a happy home.
Animals, dogs, cats, birds, etc., when they live with us do one thing: MAKE US MORE HUMAN. Watching your dog bounding through the house makes you understand the beauy and joy of life and also the fragility of life. Life is so fleeting; we must embrace the little things, the little joys. That’s what makes our experiences on earth so worthwhile.