Winning

At the third lunge, the cat loses patience and swats the tiny one like a gnat, sending him tumbling off the loveseat and onto the carpet where he lands with a soft, undignified thud. He gives me a pitiful, put upon look but I am unmoved and I could swear the little dachshund is snickering. The cat looks pleased with himself and lazily rearranges all of his fifteen pounds to take advantage of his newly acquired space.

Except for the fact that he has a dark side, I can't think why a tiny, seven pound dog needs to bully a cat twice his size and weight but it happens regularly. Not only that, he's a chaser and a dreadful yapper, perfectly willing to take on whatever strikes his fancy. This miniature, would be terrorist has brought fresh chaos to an already chaotic house and even though he never wins, he refuses to stop trying and each loss fuels his next effort. Despite my frayed nerves, I have to admire his confidence, his bravery, and his persistence. He knows no fear and hasn't the good sense to surrender.  It's more than I can say for myself.

If you live long enough, you learn a thing or two and one of the things I've learned is that there's a time to resist and a time to submit. The real trick is knowing which is which, preferably before too much damage is done. Preferably while you can still change course. Preferably before a cat knocks you ass over teakettle into next week.

I don't have much hope the tiny one will learn. It's only a few seconds before he jumps back onto the loveseat and prepares to pounce on the cat again. This time there's a brief scuffle before he's sent flying over the edge but sent flying he is. The cat, though, has had enough of this nonsense and for all his size and weight, he gracefully abandons the love seat and moves to a sunspot on the table by the window. He dismisses the dog with an over the shoulder double dare you kind of look and then curls up and goes to sleep. The tiny one crawls into my lap and then burrows up under my chin with a huge sigh, making it clear he thinks he's won.

You have to celebrate all your victories, even the small ones and sometimes even the false ones.