Who Said Dogs & Cats Can't Get Along?

Here's a true story about cats and dogs playing together, living together peacefully. Humans could learn a lot from these pets.

Pepe Francoise communicated with a pose and a look. Never demanding but a gentle, pleading look.

The first sign was "assuming the pose" and the place where he sat on his hind legs in position, waiting for permission. Then "the look", those adoring green and blue eyes (one eye was green, one was blue) with head slightly tilted back so he could look directly up to my eyes.

By the front door it meant he wanted to go outside in the hallway to play. Growing up in a condo, I used to schedule playdates with my dog, Mon Cherie, and her best friend Samantha a yorkie (who lived across the street), at least twice a week. Leaving a crack in the front door was an invitation for Jean Pierre and Pepe Francois to come out and play. Jean Pierre, the uncharacteristically, non-shy cat, immediately ran out to play. Pepe Francoise, always timid, paused for several minutes waiting inside the condo but curious-enough at the door. Once the play group was in motion and no other strangers were around, he would peak out, pause again, and then engage in play--running up and down the hallway with his brother, sister (dog) and friend, Samantha, another dog. Yes dogs and cats playing together happily. If only humans could follow this virtuous example of accepting and getting along with people that look different.

After Samantha moved away, every evening Pepe Francois automatically stood at the front door and meowed--he wanted to go out and play in the hallway. Aah, the habits we keep from our childhood. They stay with us forever. Everytime I walk by my front door, a stark white front door, I see a pair of eyes, one blue and one green peering at me.