MURPHY MULDOON--MEETING QUEEN CAT

Kitana,our cat is fourteen years old and has been an “only child” for about three years. We brought her all the way from Michigan to Colorado in our van---the air conditioner broke down and we thought we were going to lose her. She is a wonderful Persian and she has only ever been treated with love and affection. She is sweet, mellow and very laid back as far as cats go. Her life never prepared her for an ill mannered, pushy, totally rambunctious PUP! In spite of all this she learned how to deal with this playful upstart. What a gracious lady she is.
Murphy approached her as another puppy and he sniffed her and tried to roll her over. She was surprised but we really think she likes having another animal in the house. She would get a little skittish and would want to run and hide. We watched Murphy closely and how he treated her; we scolded him for being too rough. He started to look at her as something other than a puppy. She was equally as puzzled by his behavior. She had other dogs in her life but she liked them because they treated her with respect. She was going to have to teach this dog how cats behaved.
Kitana realized she would have to be on the defensive with this pup. After several days of just being around him she decided if he came towards her she would hit him in the nose with her paw. (she never put her claws out!) We could hear her hitting him from across the room. Well , that wasn’t working because he thought she was playing and he would come back for more.
Each morning Kitana and Murphy would come out and greet each other. Then two of them sit side by side and look out the screen door and watch the birds and whatever is going on in the back yard. Kitana seems to look forward to seeing him each morning. Murphy gets bored and he would starts to sniff and punch her. One morning she hissed and caught him squarely on the nose WITH HER CLAWS. He whined and looked at her. We knew she had really earned his respect when the next thing we saw Kitana was chasing Murphy and he was the one diving under the table. Kitana was again the “Queen” cat.
Murphy’s bright little doggie brain is always working to draw you into a game.He repeatedly pulled the place mats off of our dining room table in an effort to get us to chase him.
One day the place mat had a plate and a half glass of tea.
He was sure we liked that--it took us a week to convince him we were not really into chasing him. ( Was this why his mistress didn’t like him?)
Each day we tried to trust him a little more and leave him alone in the house. He’d been doing well for a couple of days. We were working in the yard and checking on him periodically. Lady Love walked in to see him standing in the middle of the dining room table. She chased him down and he went into his crate. He had a pretty good day for the rest of the day, Maybe there was hope for him yet.
The next day Lady love was eating breakfast and she remembered that the hose had to be put on the raspberry garden. She was going to be gone for just a minute but it was long enough for Murphy to eat her bacon. (Was this why his mistress didn’t like him?)
Before Murphy came to our house we each kept our daily pill boxes on the dining room table on our respective place mats so we would take our pills with our meals. That always work well for us until one day Lady Love walked in and found that Murphy had opened my entire pill box and emptied it. She called me and I ran in afraid he might have eaten them all and my pill case contained my sleep aids. Gratefully we discovered he had not eaten a one but there was dog slobber on everything in his effort to open the box. (Was this why his mistress didn’t like him?)
His behavior became some what better when we were able to let him run freely in the yard. He could run and enjoy his “buzzes” in the back yard. We were still working on the back yard but there was grass and it was great to see him run free.
He still could not get over trying to draw us into playing games with him. He constantly grabbed a glove and would run around the yard happily. He knew he was going to be scolded,but it was worth it just to tease us. Lady Love finally taught him that he should give the gloves back. That was something.
While I was at the computer writing this--Lady Love went to run an errand, walked into the dining room and said,”Oh, Murphy is being a good
boy,he’s out here just chewing on his bone---oh no he’s not he’s gotten Kitana ‘s vitamin bottle and he has eaten all the vitamins out of it!” Will it never end?
We now have every door in the house closed because he chews all the items in the waste basket he unrolls the toilet paper and pulls it all to the living room (Was this why his mistress didn’t like him?)
We had talked of making a “Dutch door” going to the basement and we decided with Murphy’s arrival -- now was the time. We could put a kitty door in the bottom and then Kitana could come and go to the downstairs without Murphy trailing behind her.
Lady Love carefully measured the chest of both animals and decided Kitana could easily make it thru the kitty door and Murphy couldn’t. The next two days we sawed,reinforced,sanded, and varnished. We wanted it to look nice and it did. We were so proud of our job well done,
The next day I went downstairs to do a load of laundry and left Murphy in the dining room upstairs. I was busily sorting and loading clothes; I turned around and there stood Murphy!!! He stood there grinning his best doggie grin and wagging his tail happily.
How did that dog get downstairs? Did he teleport?(Probably not.) Did he possibly come thru the kitty door? The kitty door was only 6 inches across. Murphy was 9 inches across his chest and he weighed 17 lb. I called for Lady Love--she didn’t answer. I thought that perhaps she had let him downstairs. I ran up stairs with Murphy trotting behind me.
Lady Love was in the back yard and I called to her,”Did you let Murphy downstairs?”
“No I went outside when you when downstairs. Why? “ She asked.
I told her what had happened. we talked and we both were convinced that the three inches difference in would not allow him to go thru the kitty door.He just must have slipped down the stairs quickly behind me. He is very fast;the ONE thing he knows very well is how to heel. That must be it.
We both returned to our respective chore and I again left Murphy upstairs. I started the washing machine and was walking towards the stairs and there came Murphy THRU the kitty door. There was surprise on both of our faces as I screamed , “MURPHY!” He shot passed me like a streak. He hid in Lady Love’s studio but I finally convinced him to go back upstairs. I put him in the kennel. I went out to tell her that all that work looked nice but it didn’t keep Murphy out of the studio.
That wonderful silly,grinning, and happy dog had done it again!!! He had made a game out of the kitty door.
Over the summer I agreed to give my granddaughter Kate guitar lessons. Murphy loves Kate and each time she came for a lesson,he would go crazy--jumping,running and whining. We thought that perhaps she reminded him of his young mistress.( Was this why his mistress didn’t like him?)
But he also did this every time the door bell rang. This had to stop before he knocked one of our very seniors neighbors and friends flat.
We decided we had to get him trained and we needed to do it soon--he was definitely a dog out of control. We already loved this crazy,wonderful laughing dog. He and the cat give us so much joy that we couldn’t think of taking him back just because he was INCORRIGIBLE!!
Lady Love and I both have had dogs in the past but we each had raised our dogs from puppies. I know this makes a great deal of difference.
Lady Love had four dog books in her vast library and we each started reading. We spent the weekend reading dog books. It didn’t take much reading to find out we had a spoiled dog with very bad habits. We each found good ideas and then we collaborated and we began to apply them immediately.
A tin can with about fifteen pennies in it works like a charm. We drop the can next to him and he just stops what he is doing.
We figure Murphy being locked in a laundry room all day long and then being played with very roughly when they were with him, that probably Murphy didn’t like that and maybe he didn’t like them---or his name “Nemo”. He responded to Murphy Muldoon the first day we had him. He was just neglected in a way that his breed can’t tolerate.
So that is why his mistress didn’t like him.
We allow him to run and play as much as he wants but we will not allow anyone to play rough with him.
Today, September 27, 2005, Lady Love and I sit in our office writing at our computers,Murphy sleeps quietly beside us. He is sweet, silly energetic and he is turning into the dog we were looking for. We love Murphy Muldoon!

October.
Finally got my computer back from repair shop and got my software down from the shelf to find Murphy had been there first-- there was a tooth mark in my printer software!!! So I had to order new printer software. I told the man at Epson that my dog ate my software he laughed so hard and he didn’t charge me for the service charge---he said it was the best laugh he had in a long time!!!! He was still laughing as I hung up the phone.