Gibby Almost Played

Gibby met George and Blue and Patches today. It looks like he and George are not going to be friends, Gibby's reaction to George was threatening - George turned away and I called him off. Gibby stalked away.

For the second time, I put Blue and Patches next to the dog pen and hooked their leash to the fence. Blue gave Gibby a couple of bossy barks and Patches jumped at the fence like she'd like to go through it to get to him. I left them there this time so they could calm down and maybe get friendlier, but that didn't happen. It didn't happen because of the cats - all of a sudden the whole cat colony was heading for us - a half dozen cats and a number of kittens all heading for the dogs who would like to eliminate them. Blue and Patches went nuts - attacked each other, jumped at Gibby, and tangled their double twenty-foot leash around a little scrub tree in an impossible way. I had to eliminate the tree to get them free, and got them under tight control just as a fuzzy black kitten got within reach. Poor Gibby was left behind as I maneuvered the feisty heelers over to the car. As soon as I got the little dogs in the car, Gibby got out again. This time, he went right back to the pen when I told him to, and then he stayed long enough for me to feed the cats over by the other house. He chose to stay in the pen, which was a good thing, because all of a sudden four little black kittens - smaller than tennis balls - were marching from the bushes by the back door of the farmhouse, across the lawn, through the driveway, and over toward the other house where the other cats were being fed. I picked up two of them and carried them over while the other two ran and hid in some bushes. None of the big cats seemed to claim them, although the yellow tom gave one of them a nose touch, so I think their mother was Blackie and she is gone. After a few tries, I caught the third kitten, but that kitten really made me pay - she sunk her teeth into my finger and would not let go until I really pulled her off. I figured the fourth one would find his way over to the other kittens so I left him alone. The next time I saw him, he was heading back to the farmhouse all alone.

This all took a couple hours, and it was raining almost the whole time. That's all the time we had - so, Gibby almost had a playdate with the other dogs. I keep thinking Patches and Gibby might become playful friends, Patches loves to play and Blue and George are too calm and quiet for her, so, I'll keep trying.