It’s such fun to watch our I’m-so-special-and-the-only-pet-in-the-house cat, Tigra, react when our daughter brings her medium sized German Shepherd mix dog, Ginny, by the house.

Yesterday’s weather was good, so our daughter walked Ginny over for the exercise (they live about 2 miles from us), and simply came strolling through the front door with Ginny on a leash without warning or announcement.

Tigra was sleeping peacefully on the sofa not far from the front door. Daughter took Ginny into the kitchen for a big drink and a snack, then they returned to the living room. Ginny is intimidated by the claw-bearing cat Daughter has at home, named Dot, so Ginny approaches any cats very cautiously.

But her soft whimper and wet nose near sleepy Tigra was more than enough to wake Tigra up and get her attention.

Happily, the two of them got along with little human intervention. Then my son drove up. Son has no pets (though several neighborhood cats hang around his backyard), and when he comes by for a visit, Tigra just adores his energy and attention. Her problem was that she couldn’t do her routine hop off the sofa and trot to the front door to greet Son — because Ginny was standing quietly between Tigra and the front door.

The situation resolved itself after we all had a few laughs. Tigra the crank walked over to Ginny, glared at her, let out a very, very soft growl, and pawed very gently at Ginny’s nose. Tigra has no front claws, and she didn’t actually HIT Ginny’s nose so much as give it a warning tap. Ginny got the idea, though, and backed quickly away.

Nothing so fun as family and pets on a beautiful spring-time Sunday afternoon, is there?

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