Animal crackers

When I moved to this house, I gave a lot of thought to the cat/dog flow. Poodles chase everything that runs. This means cats. In order to promote harmony in the house (translation: to keep me sane), I had a cat door installed in the back door near my bedroom, and put up the kiddiegate in the hall. The intention was that the cats would sleep in my room ( as they did before) and generally stay in the rear of the house. The dogs would be in the front and could come upstairs when I was working in my office/studio. A cunning plan, I thought.

I hadn't reckoned on 2 things. Firstly, the dogs were not used to stairs, and didn't want to use them. Secondly, my older cat Seven thinks more like a dog than a cat. Sev didn't WANT to stay in the rear of the house. So she started jumping over the gate and going upstairs.

Because I didn't want to have to keep the hall door shut, I have let this situation stay. If Sev walks across the back of the living room to go upstairs, the dogs watch her. If she runs, they chase her. And they chase her if she tries to get past them when they're close to the kiddiegate.

Frodo (usually called Dudey) is not the smartest poodle in the world. But he's learned to do the stairs all by himself, and now comes up when I'm there. I was interested to see how he and Sev would get along.

Yup, Sev just considers him to be another piece of warm-blooded furniture to rub against. Dudey doesn't know what to think.
Here is the "Kiwi" hat I've made for Arisa from the wool I painted last weekend. It's representing our national colours and I hope it'll be a nice reminder of her time in New Zealand, as she goes back to Japan in a week.