Dachshund

Behind every pet there is a story, often one of unexpected love or a surprise family addition.

This is Zoey. She was lucky enough to find her owner, Kim, who saved her from the pet store short-legged and cute aisle. Zoey lives with two cats (and Kim), has rottweilers for neighbours, and fancies a pint of Guinness at the bar.

Okay, one of the above facts is incorrect, and it involves alcohol.

In any case, Kim has a thriving pet-sitting business in my small Floridian town, which I shall promote relentlessly when she creates a web site.

Oh, and we'll be talking about keeping floors safe for paws in the near future.

Nice to meet you, Kim and Zoey.

Lost puppy

I think the picture says it all.

Cirrus and Sophie

Days are just all around better when we have pets around.





I delivered Cirrus to his Aunt's place, where he was really pleased to see Sophie, his look-alike cousin.

Or maybe that's the other way around. In any event, I think Robin has a fun few days ahead.

Can cats smile?

Of course they do. Just ask any cat lover.

Cat acne

Who forgets about one's acne-marred years? Not I. Which is why I find it kind of amusing that cats too, suffer from a certain spottiness.

Not that I think Moneypenny is overly concerned with the odd outbreak. She is blessed with enough beauty to overcome something as minor as a few chin pimples. In truth, I didn't even know she suffered until a vet pointed it out. When she did, I was surprised, and set about finding how to cure it.

In the end, she just stopped getting them, exactly the same as me.

Cat Claws

Did you know that kittens are born with claws extended, and only after they mature a little do they develop the muscles to sheath them?

Oh, you did?

I didn't.

More cat claw information.

Cat Marketing

A cat strolls into a Cadillac dealership, walks up to a salesman and says:

Show me something that will make me purr.

Puzzling over this for a second, the salesman returns with a saucer of milk, placing it on the floor in front of the cat.

The cat takes one look at the milk, one look at the salesman and walks out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In polls of professions most disliked by the public, car salesman, and salesmen in general often rank highly. However honest an individual might be, they are dragged down by perceived untrustworthiness of their peers. In my experience the generalization is true.

Why is this the case? Why do ethics, honesty and fair dealing elude those in the selling side of business? Don't we all understand that business is selling, and that quality control in software development can equally be applied to sales staff?

This is an experiment I'd like to try: let's find one hundred sales people, from all types of business. We'd put them in a room of, say, twenty cats, and see how their sales pitches work.

This, another beauty of the cat, is that they know what they want, and what you think they want makes no difference...except over a long period of being together, when they trust and know you.

Imagine missing out being the person who sold the cat a Cadillac because you didn't listen.