Cat People, Dog People

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

As I’m writing this (here in my work-from-home office) there is a large black cat trying very hard to situate herself between me and my keyboard. I don’t think she really wants anything other than to keep me from typing. She will often try to knock my phone out of my hands as well only to then look at me as if to suggest my attention should only be on her. Others (my wife) might find it annoying, but I find it kind of endearing (and admittedly maybe a little annoying).

But I love cats.

About 20 minutes ago, my wife’s dog (I claim zero ownership of any dog) was laying on my feet. He didn’t seem to want anything other than to be very, very adjacent to me. After years of being a digging, chewing barking, escaping, pain in the butt, he’s an old dog now and pretty much leaves me alone, except for the always wanting to be near me thing. Others might find it endearing, but I find it kind of annoying (and admittedly maybe a little endearing).

However, I hate dogs.

Those two paragraphs above seem to indicate that I am some sort of heartless weirdo because dogs are supposed-

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ly “man’s best friend” (and maybe I am), but that’s just how I’m wired.

We have two other cats and I like them both better than I do this dog that has been tormenting me with his mere existence for the past eight years. In that time, we’ve had three other cats and I liked all of them more than this… dog.

Not too long ago, though, my daughter and her boyfriend took in this abandoned puppy. Technically, it’s his dog, but he does bring it over all the time (despite my objections, all overruled by my wife and daughter), and that dog won’t leave old dog alone.

The looks on his face when the younger dog shows up is the exact look that I had when he showed up.

So, now the dog and I have two things in common: We both hate the new dog and we both prefer cats.

We have tried over the years to have a “good” dog in our family, which included a very ill-advised Pomeranian that we paid way too much for and a pair of black Labs who refused to stay in the yard and one time too many they got out and I simply did not go out and look for them. No one in my house really complained. We’ve had beagles and greyhounds and golden retrievers. They weren’t all “terrible” per se, but all in all I’d take a cat over any one of them.

I’m reminded of a cute little quip I saw on the internet a few years ago: “There are two kinds of people in the world… cat people and dog people… and then they marry each other.