We have had a dog, Chloe the psycho Bichon, for over a year now, and two cats, Mona and Murphy, for much longer. Normally, my pet needs that pet interaction in our house.
Mona is a loner, so she walks in stealth mode to the litter box and the food bowl. She is old, so she likes to sleep on my bed about 98% of the time. Murphy is the younger big fat cat. He is a ragdoll rescue cat, and like a rag doll, he is pretty laid back and mellow. (I adopted him because he was a good fit with Jason, who likes to cart him around.)
Chloe generally ignores the cats. Probably wise, since Murphy weighs in a whole pound heavier than her. Every once in awhile, she will chase Murphy away from her favorite sleeping spot, or Murphy will swat at her as she walks past. It is rare, but it happens. She is also a pretty quiet dog when she isn’t barking at Jason, but she has her play bursts. She will run around, toss her toys up in the air and chase after them, and if she is in the mood she will do the “Bichon play bow” to the people in the room. This is similar to the Downward Dog yoga move, where her front paws go down while her happy wagging tail stays up high in the air.
I almost hesitate to post it here as it pretty much guarantees that it won’t happen again, but I just spotted Chloe doing the “Bichon play bow” move to Murphy. Right here in the living room. Murphy just looked at her like she was a bit crazy, but she did it again anyways.
The Certapet enumerates three significant categories for therapy animals related to the tasks they perform, which can be physical or emotional, or a combination thereof, in nature.
Maybe there will be pet interaction (hopefully positive!) in our future after all. Maybe. As of right now – in the time it took me to type this – they are all back in their cozy sleeping spots. Crazy animals.
