[speaker001:] recording
[speaker002:] so what kind of animals do you have
[speaker001:] well I have two cats
[speaker002:] uh
[speaker001:] I have two cats because I can't have dogs um where I live I I've wanted a dog I owned a dog we had dogs when I was growing up all the time
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and um you know our our cats are are very interesting and we never owned cats when I was growing up so this is a uh it's been a really really neat uh neat kind of learning experience for me they've blown all my uh conceptions preconceptions about cats so do you do you have pets
[speaker002:] yeah I have a dog and a cat
[speaker001:] uh-oh do they get along
[speaker002:] so oh yeah they it was uh a very hairy two weeks there at the beginning uh the dog was a little under a year and the cat was about six weeks old and it it was a hefty break in
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh did the dog the dog like uh know that there was a cat and
[speaker002:] well it was very it was interesting because it it's just you know part of their makeup they're psyche I mean they just hate each other automatically but after a while they they got to be good friends and uh
[speaker001:] hum
[speaker002:] luckily it's sort of a big cat I mean it's about twelve pounds and uh so he can hold his own against the dog and uh but they they I basically got the cat to keep the dog company and uh they they do that
[speaker001:] yeah  yeah that's that's actually why we got our second cat I we thought our cat needed a pet
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh you know you tend to personify these things but our our cat thinks our oldest cat thinks that it it should be a person and our youngest cat actually thinks it's a cat so it works out pretty well um
[speaker002:] yeah well I'll tell you one thing I found with with pets um I I think cats are easier to take care of especially when on a situation like you go off on a trip uh you know it's a real pain with a dog because you have to have someone come over and walk them and let them out and that kind of thing
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah feed them and all that
[speaker002:] and sometimes I think wow if I had two cats I'd just you know get a feeder and
[speaker001:] uh yeah you know an interesting story is I I I have a friend who has um a cat that actually knows how to open Tender Vittles bags so if they go on a trip they just leave the bags on the kitchen floor and the cat'll go and open one when it wants to eat
[speaker002:] oh that's amazing
[speaker001:] I'm I swear to God it's like you know the I guess uh it earlier uh earlier time it would have to figure out how to use a can opener but you know now it it's pretty self sufficient I just think you they say you own a dog and you feed a cat and I think that that's pretty much pretty much true
[speaker002:] yeah  that is interesting I hadn't ever heard anything like that but uh
[speaker001:] yeah I it blew me away
[speaker002:] yeah we've been uh we've been pretty lucky too the uh reason we first got the dog to begin with was I lived I'm in school still and I lived uh closer to campus
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh as usual the neighborhoods right near campus aren't that nice
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh so we got the dog as protection and I guess it worked because we were never broken into and the but the people on either side of us were so yeah uh
[speaker001:] oh really uh we we usually had rifle cleaning parties on the front porch when you know you move into a bad neighborhood you have your have all your friends over play the Grateful Dead and clean your rifles and they pretty much get the idea uh but the dog I guess would work too
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] well it is a big dog
[speaker002:] uh she's uh around fifty pounds she's a a very very skinny shepherd
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] uh well she's not pure and we we tried to figure out what she was crossed with we know the mother was a shepherd but uh she looks like she's crossed with like Greyhound because she is just thin as a rail and uh
[speaker001:] oh wow well see they they say that the uh mixed breeds have a better temperament anyway all that inbreeding that they do that they have to do to maintain a pure blood line I guess makes them really weird
[speaker002:] yeah definitely and they're also prone to more diseases and uh skin problems and my sister has a a pure bred gold uh yellow Lab and that dog has every problem you could imagine you know it's allergic to fleas it's uh got another skin condition and just
[speaker001:] the dreaded hip dysplasia
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] yeah that's uh
[speaker002:] so we we haven't really had much problems with her she's uh just extremely hyper and uh I guess that accounts for her her physique and she runs like a gazelle so
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] it's fun to take her to the park and watch her run rings around all the other dogs trying to play with them and they look at her like you're crazy you think I'm going to catch you
[speaker001:] she's maybe she is part Greyhound huh
[speaker002:] so yeah yeah either
[speaker001:] that's that's uh that's interesting I thought about for a while there uh there's a a movement now to uh adopt ex-race dogs and
[speaker002:] right