Peppy Pets
June 02, 2003

Putney knows what she is talking about.....
Bettina Chadbourne

Putney is a 100% gray female cat who has a short, athletic
body. She was found in Putney, Vt. at the Putney Inn. She
was full grown and living near the dumpster, eating
restaurant scraps. I had a roommate who was a chef there and
brought her home. I had 2 cats already (Miss Bear and
Satchmo-both 100% black).

My roommate said she wanted to advertise the found cat and
find a home for her. The restaurant is right off the highway
and figured someone must have dumped her off. I couldn't
understand why. She looks like a French Chartreuse
pedigree....quite perfect looking with the attributes of
this pedigree. She's very affectionate, extremely
intelligent, a great hunter, very social, etc.

Needless to say, when my roommate opened the box and I saw
this gray beauty, I said "I want her. She's beautiful." So,
no ad was necessary. Putney seemed an appropriate name at
the time (although as time passed, I wondered if I should
have named her Diva because she is just that. ha).

She is a very good listener. If I let her outside and then
call her in a few hours later, she will come running and
scoot inside. If she's been hunting, she proudly displays
her prey on the steps (hoping she can bring it in). She has
proclaimed her spot on the top of the couch looking out the
south window. The other 2 are elderly and she knows they
can't jump up there as well. She tries to open the door
when she wants to go out on the sun porch. Without training,
she uses her cat scratch box instead of the furniture. I
could go on about her but the thing that impresses me the
most is her intuition about people. She is strongly
opinionated and doesn't hold back her opinions.

For instance, I was dating a man from my workplace. I really
liked him but some friends of mine were cautioning me about
him. The first time he came to my house, we watched a movie
on my bed and he made the mistake of putting his head on the
spare pillow which is Putney's pillow. She came up on the
bed and stared him down quite put out. He couldn't
understand why she was so unfriendly to him. I explained
that he was on her pillow. He didn't move and so she planted
herself on the top of my pillow. The next time he came to
visit, she left the room. On the third visit, he was at the
outside door on the first floor of my apartment. I was
sitting on the couch and she was on her couch spot as well.
He was knocking at the door. (I didn't know who it was at
this point). Putney began to growl (almost the way a dog
would growl) and she had taken a stance with her chest
pushed forward. I was wondering who it could be that would
make her feel this way. So I descended the stairs and let my
male guest in. She wanted to chase him out but since he was
6'2", she left the top of the stairs and went to the bedroom
to claim her pillow.

By this visit, I was having questions about whether I wanted
to continue pursuing this possible relationship. During the
course of the evening and talk about Putney, he said he
hated cats. (He had a dog at home). When he left that night,
I realized that that was a big clue that he may not be
right for me. Putney knew before I did and she clearly
didn't want him in the house....not because he had taken her
pillow that first night but because he clearly didn't
respect her or cats. In turn, he didn't really show me the
respect. If only I had listened to her before this, I would
have saved myself a lot of time and disappointment. She knew
when it was over too and I swear she gave me that big
Cheshire cat grin letting me know that she knew what she was
"talking" about.

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Tank, our Norwegian Elkhound
Diane Conley

We were lucky enough to be involved with our puppy from the
time he was only 1 week old. The breeder is a truly
wonderful person and her name is Phyllis Anderson. We picked
him out when he was just a cuddly bundle of black fur.

I came out to visit him almost every week till she weakened
and allowed us to take him home. We named him Tank because
we figured he was going to be built like a little Sherman
Tank. My friends knew how much he meant to us and they
showered him with baby presents. One of the most favorite
of his toys is a hard plastic ball that he loves to chase
around the yard running full speed and controlling like a
soccer player does.

It was truly the loneliest home in town when our beloved
Remy died at 13 years but Tank has come to share a special
place in our lives now. There is nothing quite like opening
the door and Tank running through as fast as he can and then
he leaps and spreads his front legs apart as if he were
going to grab you and give you the biggest hug in the world.
May I live to be as good of a person as my dog thinks I am.



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