A couple of weeks ago while on the last walk of the day, but at the time when all the neighbourhood cats
come out to play, Bella lost control, lunged after an unsuspecting kitty, snapped
her "extrastrong, long dog lead specifically designed for large and heavy dog breeds”,
and chased poor Kitty into a corner. Fortunately Kitty
fought back just a little as evidenced by the teeny drop of blood under Bella’s
left eye, a hefty left hook me thinks! After roughly shoving the
recalcitrant hyped up dog into the house, we both went in search of Kitty
hoping we wouldn’t find a lifeless form somewhere behind the dustbins.
Fortunately, said Kitty was spotted running madly across the small patch of grass to
the next safe base under a car and there was no way that Kitty was going to come for
a pet even when cooed to so sweetly! So another life down for Kitty, another
Cat Encounter for Bella and another strong lead broken! Another 'cat-walk' encounter!
For the next 10 days or so, she was taken out for her
morning walk with the slip lead hooked on to the normal nylon lead to give her
some wandering freedom. Her lunch time walk, with me, was just the slip lead!
Easy to control and she responded beautifully with no problems.
Today hubby and a friend fixed the flexi lead. Yay, because
a good strong one can cost quite a fortune! So lunch time off we went, behind
the Red Lion, between the wheat fields, on to the main road, through the churchgraveyard and up the little path where ........ a regal looking black cat was waiting!
Thankfully the repaired flexi lead held. And so did I. Bella
does not bark. She believes in quiet confrontation! So while she was straining
at the end of the lead, the black cat simply sat in the pathway while deciding
what to do, probably confused that there was no uncouth barking common to other 'lower class' canines he'd encountered. But on seeing that Bella was restrained and couldn’t quite get to
him, and that she obediently returned to mama when called (Yes, she really
did!), Black Cat held his ground in the middle of the narrow footpath.
To give her her due, Bella did sit quietly at my feet while
we waited, in vain, for the Black Cat to vacate his territory. After a few
minutes I considered our two options: One – turn around and go home
another way leaving the Black Cat in peace to savour his victory; or Two – walk
on, and claim the public footpath open to all, not just Black Cats!
Bravely, we chose Option Two and with Bella held very
closely to my heels and on the very shortest lead, we walked toward the Black
Cat In The Middle Of The Path! Black
Cat quickly gave up his position and retreated through the hedge to safety!
Confident that not many of the neighbourhood cats did lunch
time strolls, we headed home cheerfully. Until the driveway where the resident
Cat was sunning itself next to a car’s back wheel. But Bella, still on the short
lead didn’t have half a chance of lunging at this one and while I held her
close, she still managed to pirouette ungraciously on the gravel driveway. Fortunately this cat quickly recognised Bella as the predator and
disappeared over the garden fence. Once again, Bella was ordered to sit, which she did and she even
lay down on the pavement when told!
How do you tell a dog she’s been good in obeying a command
given to discipline her!? Once again it was a quiet encounter, and just as she
did not not bark or whimper, so I also calmly and assertively controlled her and we
walked home as if nothing had happened. Cesar Millan would surely have been proud of me!!
Whew!
Cat Encounters Are Emotionally Draining. But it was
certainly good to see Bella respond positively.
However, she is still serving a suspended sentence for Disturbing the Peace of the Village by Causing a Resident Cat to Dislodge Noisy Dustbins; Harrassing and Bullying said Cat with the Potential of doing Grievous Feline Harm; and Continual Aggressive Behaviour Towards the Feline Population! (Handed down by us - no real legal stuff going on here!)
But she's so very good at home!! And everyone lives to stress another day!
(Photo Credits: Both cat pictures from Google Images. Rest are the real Bella!)
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