PlazaJen: Passion Knit

At 1:30 a.m. this morning, I decided to go to bed. As is customary, I let the dogs out.
Let me interrupt myself. We live across the street from some very elderly people, who are kind-hearted in their own way, putting out cat food for stray cats. I am not a stray cat fan (Well, I do like me some Brian Setzer, but that's different), mostly because our dogs think Stray Cat Poop is the BEST TREAT EVER. And it makes them stink something hideous, to the point James & I gag when they come back & breathe on us.

So one of these cats is hanging out across the street, and my dog Polly sees it, and is literally bounding up and down so enthusiastically her ears are going straight up. Normally, these dogs of ours are classified as "very well trained" & under total voice command, but not at 1:30 in the morning when a Stray Cat is Right THERE because if those "treats" taste so good on the ground, then maybe we can catch & bring this cat inside & have our own TREAT MACHINE at the ready. And off they went. Completely disappeared into the night. Suzy obeyed me and came back immediately, but not my Polly! She is like a teenager, and has been exhibiting all sorts of "I Am Independent Doggie" and "You Ain't The Boss Of Me" rebellion of late. And so, that is how I found myself at 1:30 in the morning, shivering & driving around our neighborhood, looking for her, only to circle back home & find Miss Polly in our driveway, reeking of "cat treats". Because apparently the Stray led her to the Mother Lode of Cat Poopatorium, and it was Feast Night at the Apollo.

There will be no doggy kisses today, and Polly is sporting the e-collar, which makes her extra-incredibly obedient with no action required on my part. Pavlov, you da man. And I know, there are no bad dogs, only bad dog owners, and she could have been hit by a car or stolen and I would never, ever have forgiven myself, not to mention I would be an emotional wreck. So this means she will be wearing her collar a lot more, rather than less, in the future. We chose to have dogs instead of kids, for many reasons, and we try to be the best dog parents we can be. We're happy with that choice, based on who we are & what we want out of life, despite how many times we're told, "You'd be such great parents! Are you sure you don't want kids?" Sometimes I wonder what life would be like, if I've missed out or I'll regret not having children. It's fleeting, and I know the choice is right for me. For now, I'm still content with raising dogs & we've even talked about breeding dogs in a few years. You can't crate train children, and you can't put e-collars on them, or leave them in the car when you go shopping.

I will say this, I can see one definite upside to kids over dogs:
To the best of my knowledge, kids don't eat cat poop.