The chaos from a cat and a dog

This is the story of a cat and a dog.

While it certainly has some of those random chaotic moments that seen to happen to me far too often and may show some good in the world, but at its heart it’s just a simple story of man’s best friend and his natural enemy.

A few months ago my mom and stepdad decided to get a puppy. It wasn’t an easy decision after their two beloved Yorkshire Terriers had passed away over the past several years.

She was insistent about getting a dog, and he would have nothing to do with it. After several months of nagging by mother started to knock down the wall, she finally convinced him that it was time. I’m thinking what happened is he had a strong Crown Royal on the rocks, was in an exquisite mood and finally caved in. And once he said it was okay, believe me, my recently retired mom was spending hours upon hours on her kindle trying to find the right dog to bring into the house.

Replacing Missy and Milo would not be easy, but she feels that having a loving pet at home makes life a little bit easier.

After several weeks of research she called me to tell me they had gone to Utah to pick up a “Morkie” named Bella.

To this day I’m not completely sure what a “Morkie” is, but what I do know is that is as cute of a puppy as I’ve ever laid eyes on.

As cute as Bella Mia Ditullio is, that is not the best way to describe her. She is a whirling dervish of pure chaos that finds herself in turbo mode about 23 and a half hours a day. She does not sit still. She files around the house like a dog possessed. If anything is in her reach, she will take it. Nothing is safe. Even though she’s only about five pounds, she will take off with the Direct TV remote in a heart beat. The channels will change back and forth as she scurries down the hallway to hide under a bed.

My retired mother has another job again. Raising Bella is like having an unruly teenager who has taken control of the house and tests the patience of everyone who crosses her path.

She has moments where she does wear herself out, but they are few and far between. A sweet dog, yes, but that means she wants to lick your face each and every time you sit down and good luck eating anything around her without it sending her once again scurrying down the hall to get under the bed and eat like a King.

I will see Bella quite often, but most of my time with an animal is spent with my cat Peaches. I’ve spent a lot of time in my columns talking about him and he is something else.

Peaches meets new and interesting people all the time, but he only likes me. He doesn’t give other people the time of day. If someone comes close to him, he immediately swats at them and they are often times left bleeding. He never intentionally wants to hurt anyone, but he just doesn’t like to be messed with. He puts up with my girlfriend, but when she’s not paying attention, he sprays on her belongings. He also does that to everything my son Julian comes in contact with. They hate each other.

As for me and Peaches, we are tight. Our bond is something you would see with an “old cat lady.” He immediately comes running to me when I enter the house and will sit on my lap or lay on my chest until I give him the right amount of attention. I also speak for Peaches in a squeaky voice just so everyone knows his point of view. Sure this sounds weird, but if you know me or read my columns this should be nothing out of the ordinary.

The only time I ever get mad at him is when he escapes outside and comes back looking like he just went five rounds with UFC champ Jon “Bones” Jones. Every time he gets out, it means a trip to the vet. He’s a big cat, so I’m little scared to see what some of the dogs and cats he scraps with look like after the battle.

A few weeks ago, my mom and stepdad decided they wanted to go on a vacation to Arizona and were going to board Bella.

I should have just let this go, but trying to be nice, I said the puppy is far to young to be in a kennel for 11 days so I would stay at their house and watch her.

I should have just said no, but much like my stepdad with the Crown, it may have been the beer influencing the decision and I committed to watching the dog.

Because it was going to be an extended stay, I had no choice but to bring Peaches, who prefers to be called Little Jim, because he said Peaches isn’t a boys name.

I knew from the moment I introduced the two it would be pure chaos and I would instantly regret my decision. Peaches has been around several dogs and made it very clear early on he was not going to put up with any sort of shenanigans. He instantly swats them to show he’s in control, girl name or not.

So on that fateful day, I prepared everything to go, knowing that I may not have to watch the dog very long because Peaches would probably eat her.

Things turned out a little bit different than I could imagine. As soon as I opened the door and set the cat down, Bella started to creep close. Rather than confront the dog, Peaches just gave her a strange look and preceded to explore the house.

Every chance Bella would get, she would follow Peaches. He would simply turn around, make a strange hissing noise which would send Bella under the bed, albeit this time not for fun and hiding things like remote controls and socks.

Everything was going fine until the third day when I got home from work and let Bella out.

I found out later that I didn’t shut the door all the way. I was downstairs doing some laundry when I started to here what sounded like a hurricane going through the kitchen.

The noises the pets were making were unlike anything I’ve ever heard. It sounded like the cat was in heat, the dog was giving birth, and a horse was galloping throughout the house.

I was scared.

Had Peaches killed Bella? Had Bella killed Peaches? Had a horse killed both of them and I was next?

I ran up the stairs and wasn’t prepared for what I saw.

What had to be a 100-pound Siberian Husky was running loose in the kitchen. It had escaped through a hole in the neighbors fence and pushed the back door open.

Peaches was on the table hissing with his tail flared. Poor Bella was on the floor peeing.

It was something out of a movie. This could only happen to me. I finally got the dog out of the house and through the hole in the fence. I returned to find both pets hiding.

Day three and four neither wanted to come out of their hiding places and getting Bella to go outside was like trying to convince a Wyoming fan to root for BYU.

Finally the two came from their hiding places and what happened still makes me shake my head.

They both take turns chasing each other around the house.

While I thought the two crazy animals were going to destroy each other, they instead were playing.

Granted it’s still a pain, but just goes to show, that life isn’t always what one expects.

The two pets found that they could probably get a lot more fun out of enjoying each other than fighting.

Probably a good life lesson for everyone.

I’m sure as I’m writing this their is pure chaos going on at the house, but at least for a moment they got along.

I’m sure they will be going out of town again sometime soon, and so it will be chapter two. I’m just hoping no rogue huskies find their way in the house. But that would still be a story about a cat and a dog.