Day 305 - Bondage

submission

Over the last few years, we've found a number of what are now referred to in our house as Great Uniters...common interests that bring our various species together...

Whilst integrating Anna's cats and my dogs (back in the days when they were Anna's cats and my dogs - before they became our pack), we spent several weeks overseeing complex and subtle interactions between Jazz, Bluez, Loz and Maisie, as they all got to know each other and learned how to live together. 

The Great Uniters were generally foodstuffs which all of them were interested in...most notable amongst these were cheese and chicken. 

If Anna was to sit with some small pieces of cheese, they would all miraculously appear, and for a few minutes would forget their differences and sit alongside each other, sharing in the wonder of pungent protein...and in the process, learning that they could coexist without drama or conflict. 

Another powerful weapon in the fight for peace, we found, was the open fire. 

The warmth of a fire on a wintry day is attractive to both man and beast, and Loz and Jazz especially bonded while lounging around the fire with Anna. 

Now we are integrating Robin into our house, home and pack, the fire is again proving a potent tool.  We've had the fire on for the last couple of nights, even though it's not strictly that cold, as it was immediately effective again.  

Robin has discovered the fire, and seems to love lying with Anna (for protection from Loz) in the warm glow of a late evening...he's still wary of Loz after she smacked him on the nose, but lying with Anna gives him the security he needs to happily doze off, draped around or over her...you can see from the photo above how content and chilled he is. 

This has created a lovely bonding opportunity for Anna and Robin, and they are both getting a lot from it, and getting to know each other better by the day. 

It makes me wonder what role fire played in the domestication of the dog...did caveman and wolf find a shared peace in the warmth of a managed fire, and so begin an amazing symbiotic relationship that has now lasted for 20,000 years or more?

In any case, for her part (the somewhat less domesticated) Loz is quite satisfied that Robin now knows his place, and she has started to muscle in on the action...she seems quite prepared to come and get between Robin and the fire, and at one point it seemed like she might just walk (or perhaps jump) over him to get there.

For now, we're herding her away slightly (herding cats isn't actually as difficult as it's purported to be), as he's a little nervous - a serious incident at this stage would set things back badly.

Instead, she'll come and doze, enthusiastically purring, on my lap, whilst Robin dozes with his head draped over Anna's legs...they're only a couple of feet apart, and so again are passively learning that they can be together without being a threat to each other.

So we're taking our time and letting things settle, and thus far, things have gone really well...we'll stick with the program for a few weeks, and I'm sure everything will be smooth and settled...

The photo above, however, is actually from last night, which I realise is a minor cheat...but we're 305 days in, and I'm not going to break my unbroken series of photo's taken on the day, so here's this:

lonely heart

For reasons unknown, there's a small heart dangling from our log basket next to the fire...

For other reasons (although equally unknown), Robin is very interested in this little heart, and I suspect he'll have it if he gets a chance when we're not looking. 

At which point I guess he will be the proverbial owner of a lonely heart...

:-)