Maybe you're not like my neighbors.  They're fine people, decent people.  However, their two poodles are currently gated on the front porch of their house and barking at everything that goes by.  The constant noise pollution is not welcome.  I will remember this if I ever want to have a loud party or run a saw at 5:30am.  Consideration gets consideration.

This morning when I was done working in the garden I headed for the house only to realize on the steps that something was on the bottom of my sandal.  I scraped it off on the edge of the steps and it was dog shit.  I hosed off my shoe and the steps.  It may seem like a small thing to you, that your dog does not come when you call it and loves to shit in my garden, but it is not a small thing to me.

Yesterday I went for a walk with a girlfriend who has two dogs.  She wanted me to walk one but I begged out.  The one that she did bring, an American pitbull, was kept on leash the whole time.  It took the treats which were offered regularly regardless of behavior, and appeared indifferent to the kiddie talk tone taken in her speech.  It kept jumping on me, and slobbering on my legs whenever we stopped.  Slobbering may be normal in your world, but I don't want it in mine.

I live across the street from a park, and people walk their dogs past here all day every day.  I have a cat.  My cat hates dogs with a ferocity I have never seen in another creature.  She will go out of her way to draw blood if the dog is clueless enough to get in range.  But some dogs would kill her if they caught her, and she recognizes that kind and runs, climbs, escapes.  The park rules are that all dogs are to be on leash at all times except for when inside the dog park, which is always available.  I believe city rules are the same.  Any dog owner stupid enough to let their dog in my yard deserves the vet bill.  Any dog that is hunter enough to threaten my cat should be on leash.

My last pet was a dog.  I loved him deeply.  I did a real dog obedience training with him, with a lady who trained German shepherds for the police.  We both learned, and we had a language.  He did not run off to shit in someone else's yard.  I could call him off a chase when other dogs were still chasing.  He would sit and watch quietly when I spotted wildlife.  He would heel, really heel without a leash on, and stay.  He would stay laying in the shade while I had lunch in a restaurant.  So when you say your dog is well trained, at a bare minimum I expect that you can call them back to you and they will come.  Every time.  If he's not well trained, he should be on a leash.

Postscript: I texted my neighbors to ask for some quiet and admitted that the dog barking was getting to me.  They took the dogs indoors and the noise has stopped.  I can feel my blood pressure gradually dropping back toward normal.

I think that when this cat dies I will not have any more pets.  It is very American to have pets, it helps us with the isolation.  But I would rather hang out with my neighbors than listen to their pets.  I would rather make love to my partner than pet the cat.  I would rather not have a litter box to clean or warm piles of dung to pick up with a plastic bag.  The numbers are astounding about pet ownership in the US: could it be that we are substituting cats, dogs, computers and phones for having real connections with other people?

True story, just happened, 6:49am. Kitten just came muttering into my bed. She let out her little vibrato meow and I reached over sleepily to pet her hello. My hand landed on something wet. I let out a howl of disgust, thinking it was a dead mouse. She jumped down out of the bed, and then on the bedroom floor something went crunch. I turned on the light, and there was a spot of bright red blood and a few gray feathers on my white bedspread. I looked down at the kitten, and she was hunched over, eating the bird. Crunch, crunch, crunch, methodically. I laid back down and listened. Then I got up, to get a rag so that I could get the blood out of the carpet. By the time I got back the kitten had finished eating the bird, and was crunching on dried cat food. There was nothing left but a small pile of tail feathers that moved in the wind I created. No blood on the carpet, but the down comforter has a new spot. There's a drizzle of blood on her white chest.

We can give the H1N1 flu to our feline friends! If you have a kitty, wash your hands before you say hello with petting! The first case was in Iowa but now it has happened in Oregon and elsewhere.

Companion animals have been known to contract flu from other species — canine influenza (H3N8) originated in horses, and cats contract avian influenza (H5N1) from eating birds. But this appears to be the first time a cat has contracted influenza from a human. Two pet ferrets, one in Oregon and one in Nebraska, have also tested positive for H1N1, and the virus has also been transmitted between humans and pigs.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/the-cat-who-got-swine-flu/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jPhJ3QpRycpDLrrOUwe7f4yZ5BSQD9CFBB6O0
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/nov/08/business/chi-flu-pets_mullennov08

Chased back home again by the rain. I went out with precisely the wrong timing, because the sun is shining again now. Vaccine workshop today was interesting. I took a lot more notes than I'm sharing with you. One of the possible homework assignments is to "write a blog entry (3 paragraphs) about something about vaccines that you want to share with the public". Tough one, huh. I think I can do that. I already have that entry fomenting. It will be a message to mamas, because they are the ones at the mercy of the system if no one helps them get clear about what matters most for their babies.
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Shakti is sitting on the window sill in the east window of my office. The full moon is high and clouds are drifting past it, torturing the vampires. Suzanne is starting charcoal in a hibachi on the porch, and the pug beast is snorting in the hall.
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