The loss of a dog articulated so well...

Neil Gaiman, brilliant author that he is, also has a blog. I had no idea until another blogger linked this post about the loss of his dog, Cabal.

It's a touching story and a sad one.

He quoted Kipling:

THERE is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day; 
And when we are certain of sorrow in store, 
Why do we always arrange for more? 
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

For some light relief after reading Neil's post, here are my dogs, tearing up my heart, or fighting to win it.

Simon's Cat

I have been on youtube a lot lately, watching the entries for Honey's Dancing with the Doggie Stars Competition. Anyway I often browse youtube's recommendations to be watched and I came across Simon's Cat.

This cat is like all of the hyper and destructive elements of Frou & Mittens combined.

Youtube - home of the troll

You guys will remember this video:

Well it's the first video on my youtube account to approach 1000 views. I only made it because I was doing some training with the dogs and Froufrou wanted in on the action, so I got her to sit, and then filmed her and the dogs interacting.

Through youtube keyword magic, this video has become linked to a video of a little girl carrying around a dead squirrel which her pet greyhound had killed while walking on leash with it's owners. Since then I have had 3 comments about it not being a sit, and the cat only doing it because of treats. Hello! She is a cat. She doesn't do anything if there is nothing in it for her.

Anyway, apparently people who like dead squirrels don't understand the process of training cats. They also don't understand what a 'sit' is as opposed to a 'squat' (which is what they do when going to the toilet!). Got 12 dislikes and 2 likes too.

I am wondering if I should disallow comments because of the trolls. I won't ever reply to a troll but it is mildly irritating. Most people who want to comment on my videos do so either via the blog or via facebook. This is really the first video I've had that has gotten any kind of notoriety on youtube. The nature of it is that videos sit around for a while and then all of a sudden are linked to something else and they go gangbusters.