dog + cat = ?

This is my dog. His name is Jackson. Things to know about him - he loves to snuggle, he's friendly, he likes other dogs (of all sizes!), he likes to go for walks, hates being in the car, loves vegetables (huh?), is a complete attention whore, is afraid of inanimate objects (i.e. curtains), and he will be your best friend forever if you pet him (no kidding).

 

Jackson is a rescue dog; I got him from a local animal shelter when he was about a year old. Being a rescue dog means that there are a lot of question marks around Jackson - where did he come from? what happened to him? was he abused/neglected/etc.? how did he get to the pound? Sometimes the shelter has answers and sometimes they don't. In Jackson's case - they didn't. All I know is that he was "trapped" somewhere and then brought to the shelter covered in fleas (gross, right?). Don't worry, he's been flea-free for quite some time now and he's been living the high life ever since his cute little snuggleface hopped into my car. Seriously, this kid has it go-o-o-od.

Now some information about me and what the heck I'm going to write about! My name is Cara and I live in western New York (Rochester to be exact!). I work at a nonprofit providing professional development to families and educators using resources from public media (PBS and more!). I am an elementary/reading teacher by training, I love running, beer, random facts, science that makes my head hurt, my family, my friends and obviously, my dog. 

Like I said, I'm a teacher and just like many of the teachers I know, I process things best by reflecting on scenarios, experience, thoughts, etc. (Here's where you get to find out why I'm starting this blog!) I'm currently in the process of merging households (a.k.a. moving in!) with my boyfriend - we're going through everything deciding which furniture will fit, who's this-and-that we're keeping or goodwill-ing, etc. Lots of decision-making! So far, it's been great (knock-on-wood) - very easy and no disasters. However, in addition to merging all of our "stuff", we're also introducing our animals - dog meet cat, cat meet dog. Jackson had never met a cat before this one and Bronx (the cat) had only briefly met another dog - so this is brand new territory for them both. Needless to say there are LOTS of stories about their current interactions and I'm sure there will be many more. Hence, the blog :)

I'm a dog person through and through. My boyfriend is a cat person. I'm actually allergic to cats (thankfully and oddly not this one! Weird?) and he's never had a dog. So the stories that I write about will be our adventure in figuring out life with a cat AND a dog. Should be fun!

Here's hoping you enjoy my dog versus cat ramblings. Some of them are guaranteed to be quite funny! And others? Well, I might need some help sorting through. 

xoxo