Basil has an amazing tail. It's his most distinguishing feature and he gets compliments on it all the time. Even as a kitten, during his first vet visit, the vet said he had a "prominent tail". How flattered we both were!
Over the last year and a half, we have richly admired Basil's fine attribute. He loves to flick it and saunter it as he rests and while he walks. A friend of ours swears he has Persian kitty in his background in order for him to have such a magnificent tail. At this point, I think you get it - the cat has a rockin' tail...AND we love it.
You can imagine when we decided to expand our family and accept a puppy we wanted a docile breed with low prey drive and sweet personality to decrease the likelihood of Basil getting hurt. So...enter the doodle pup.
For the past two weeks, I've been diligent in ensuring there is no chasing of Basil and lots of praise to Briar when Basil runs about the house and Briar doesn't follow. Things were looking promising.
Today was such a sunny day - I wanted to allow Basil a bit of time outdoors on his leash. Leash, you say?! Yes, he's declawed so I protect him from getting into trouble by having him on a long leash so he can run about freely and should he go too far, I have a better chance at catching up with him with the leash dragging behind him.
Anyway, off we went with Basil scouting the 5 acres we live on and Briar on the leash with me. As Basil grew excited and began to run - I'd hold Briar back on the leash and say slowly and have him sit until he calmed himself. We did this for about 15-20 minutes and he soon began to give Basil his space and not bolt after him each time he picked up speed. Ahhh...I thought to myself...this may not be too bad!
Then, Briar took a mental turn and got too excited over Basil's flickering tail. He lunged for it and had it in his mouth and bit poor Basil's tail. With a strong "No!" and a jolt on the leash, I then placed Briar on his back in the submissive position. His mouth was full of Basil's beautiful fur. I was livid and devastated. Poor Basil did not even defend himself. I tell you, this kitty is so very sweet - he just does not fight back.
Briar calmed down and I reached for Basil and carried him back towards the house so I could give Briar some time to calm down in his house. I filled his house with toys but did not give him attention - keeping things stale and bland so he didn't feel as if I was pleased or mad. Just nothing.
I came to blog to release frustration, mostly. This is what I didn't want to see happen, but I'm glad I was there to intervene. It goes to show that cats and dogs need lots of supervision to get them to respect each other. I feel so bad for Basil, but he's okay. His tail is fine. I think it hurt me more than anything.
Briar has been very sweet and quiet in his house so I'm going to let him out and see how the afternoon goes. Wish us luck!
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