It’s a new day for the animals at The Party House.  If you have animals like we do, and you have both cats and dogs like we do,  you will understand what I am talking about here.  The animals have a pecking order, a hierarchy about them.  They have a certain way of treating each other, or in our case, ignoring each other, and a certain way they interact.  It can be incredibly entertaining.

Let me introduce our cast of characters.  First, and foremost is Tiger, the cat.  The Queen.  She is the queen of the roost, and always, always lets everyone know she is the Boss!  No question about her place in the mix.

Then we have Clyde, our terrier mix doggie.  Clyde is, how shall I say this, an introvert, a follower.  He does not like his routine disrupted, or messed with.  It makes him very nervous.  His legs get shaky when he’s nervous or in an uncomfortable situation.  When we’re having a Party Day he’s a Nervous Nellie the entire time the crowd is in the house.  He likes lots of love and hugs, or belly scratching.  Clyde is a good guard dog though.  He takes good care of me when I am home by myself, and protects his domain.

Next is our new arrival.  We adopted our daughter’s cat, Storm.  He’s a raucous and rambling guy, and likes to stir up the routine of the other animal residents in the house.  He’s the teenager in the house.  He’s a big guy, and is like the annoying little brother for Tiger.  He’s also the most mellow cat I have ever known.  Nothing really phases him, unless he’s super hungry.  Storm and Clyde have some kind of bonding thing going on too.  Maybe it’s a guy thing?  They like to pal around the yard together, and go on little hunting expeditions together.

Photo credit: B.Juedes

The most entertaining part of the day is when the animals get fed their dinner.  If you have animals you know they like a routine.  They like things to happen on a schedule.  At our house, I don’t feed everyone until 5pm.  They start milling around me in the house at about 4pm, just to see if I will give into Tiger’s meowing demands.  Tiger is the spokesperson for the group.  The other two just follow in her footsteps where food is concerned.  I usually stick to my guns and don’t feed the animals a minute before 5pm, because you know they are not the boss of me.  Once they are all fed they go on their merry ways for the evening.  That usually involves little drinks of water, and lots of napping.  Oh the life of a domesticated animal.

The 5pm Standoff!!

Storm also loves to annoy Tiger when she least expects it. He will jump up on a chair while Tiger is laying on the floor, and peer down at her, very intently,  until she hisses and scowls at him.  Once Storm gets a rise out of Tiger, he jumps off of the chair and very nonchalantly walks right past Tiger.  She can’t stand this of course, and hisses at Storm until he leaves the room.

The other entertaining thing about the animals is I have them all trained to know what the phrase, “Go to Bed” means.  I close the animals off in one part of the house at night so they cannot roam all over.  And actually now that it’s warmer Clyde and Storm sleep outside at night.  Tiger stays in and gets mad at me when I tell her it’s time to “go to bed”.  She hisses and scowls at me, and gives me her dirty looks, but she is still not the boss of me.  Travel Man cracked up at this,  the first time he saw me sending Tiger to bed at night.  He could not believe she actually listened, and went out to her little corner in the game room.

Oh what a tangled web we weave.  First it’s keeping the kids from arguing, and terrorizing each other, and now it’s the animals.  We are glad to have Storm as an addition to our little family of pets.  He has brought some new life into the mix of things, and keeps us quite entertained.  Welcome to the family Storm!

This post has been linked to the Grand Social linky at Grandma’s Briefs.