Tyler’s Canine History: Part One

Before you look at me with that look….hear me out.

Tyler, my first and greatest cat ever, LOVED DOGS!

Well, sort of.

Read on, dear readers.

Originally blogger blogged in February of 2020.

A series I intended to continue before I jumped ship for the joy that is Medium, and one that I will continue here in a new multi-part series!

Tyler’s Canine History

Part One: A Great Dane named Marley.

Tyler’s canine history with dogs begins with none other than a Great Dane.

Marley.

Marley was a brief, but important, encounter not too long into Tyler’s nearly 15 year tenure with me.

Shortly after Tyler and I moved into my first apartment in Glen Cove, NY, on LAWN GUYLAND, a friend came to visit me in my new humble abode.

Wow, that was a boring sentence. I moved, friend came to visit.

I sound like I’m writing one of my old email responses during my dating days. So, how was your weekend? Do anything fun? Well, I had friends over and we…..ZZZZZZZZZZ.

No wonder I didn’t get many responses.

But seriously. A friend did come over, and with a large Great Dane named Marley in tow.

Now by then Tyler’s role as the alpha-cat was well established. He was in charge, he was the boss, and that would never be in question until he crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

What was in questions was…..how would he handle a Great fucking Dane? A dog 10 times his size?

The answer: almost like a champ.

Marley, a gentle giant who, aside from dark fur, bore an obviously striking resemblance to Scooby Doo, didn’t get as far as the mat by my front door when Tyler came charging up to him from his perch in the living room.

Despite being a 10th the size and without claws, Tyler immediately took command of the situation.

Hissing, growling, there was not a chance in HELL that monstrous thing was getting any further into his territory than the front door mat.

Marley, to his credit, did not bark, even though he was clearly intimidated by my cat. He backed up to the front door, and was perfectly fine waiting in the car or outside. Tyler meant business.

Unfortunately for Tyler, what he did not take into account was the one thing about large dogs that are always a certainty.

Dogs drool.

A small bit of drool (do I call that a spiddle? I forget) happened to land on Tyler’s ear just as Marley was about to make for the front lawn.

You’d have thought I just gave Tyler a bath. Which I’ve done, and he hates.

Marley was instantly forgotten as Tyler made it his business to rub that drool stained ear on EVERY SINGLE BIT of the area rug in the living room.

With that accomplished, Tyler retreated to the bedroom, where I am sure he licked his ear with one of his front paws for hours.

Was there a dog here the size of an ocean liner? I don’t remember, whatever it was it got this gross stuff on my ear, can you believe that???

Round one of Tyler’s history with dogs?

A draw.