Caesar is on the naughty list

I was in the bathroom this morning when I hear a crash and scampering feet, running from the scene of the crime. I went out in the living room and our Christmas tree was toppled over on it's side with the top of the tree bent at an odd angle. The tree top is broken and I don't know if it'll be able to be fixed. Ornaments were scattered across the floor, but somehow none got broken. So, I stood up the tree and now it's a crooked tangled mess. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the thing. We needed a new one anyway, but I certainly don't want to spend the money with psycho kitty in the house, likely to break another one. I heard Tim get up just a little bit ago and I haven't heard a peep out of him. I wonder if he's even noticed. We usually don't set up the tree this early, but we knew Sunday was the only day we would have free for awhile.

OH PAM!!!

I can relate......I have 3 cats, and 2 of them LOVE to mess with the Christmas tree.....it has toppled over before, and now there is a screw in the window sill for anchoring the tree down. I have not put the tree up yet, not sure if I will, for fear of what the BEAST (Cain) will do to it......I have ceramic tile in my floor, so I KNOW if that tree were to topple over, I could kiss all the decorations good-bye, and every single one of them is an ornament that was purchaed for each boy every Christmas....it would break my heart......

Cain: 80 pound American Staffordshire Terrior (Pit Bull)



Same 80 pound dog on the back of the couch like a cat.....

Wow, Cain is a big boy. He's very handsome, Rhonda. Do you take him on walks?

No Alice.....I do not take Cain for walks.....He HATES the leash and when I USED to take him with me to the mailbox or whatever...he was the one taking ME for a walk.....it had to end the day he dragged me down....I had my hands full of mail and he darted off before I was ready to start walking, and I went down.....he looked at me with that, "What's your problem, get up, we're moving again." He belongs to Jake, so it will be up to him to get him leash trained.....in the meantime, we just play chase in the backyard for his exercise....

I wish we would have thought to anchor the tree, Rhonda!! We didn't put up any ornaments that he could break this year. We learned our lesson last year. He broke three of our favorite ornaments then.

Cain is adorable!! I also noticed that it looks like we have the exact same couch/loveseat (can't tell which from the picture).

Yes, Savannah, I think that is exactly what Caesar thought, that we put up a great big toy just for him because we love him so much. Watch your tree around Opie in case Caesar emails him with any ideas.

My cats have been really good about all the trees in the house. They lay on the tree skirts and sometimes bat at the lower ornaments, but no tree climbing or toppling. Tell him to knock it off or he'll be in the carrier from now until Christmas. LOL!

What a pretty dog, Rhonda.

oh dear! I don't have a cat, but if I did, I could just see it climbing the tree....I'm glad that none of your ornaments broke, Pam!

We have a 3 month old kitten. I hope isn't naughty too.

Rhonda, Cane is handsome.

Rhonda wrote:

No Alice.....I do not take Cain for walks.....He HATES the leash and when I USED to take him with me to the mailbox or whatever...he was the one taking ME for a walk.....it had to end the day he dragged me down....I had my hands full of mail and he darted off before I was ready to start walking, and I went down.....he looked at me with that, "What's your problem, get up, we're moving again." He belongs to Jake, so it will be up to him to get him leash trained.....in the meantime, we just play chase in the backyard for his exercise....

Oh my gosh, Rhonda! I hope you didn't get hurt when he dragged you down. How long ago was this? I wouldn't want to walk him again either!

I'm sorry, but the thought of him looking at you like "What's your problem, get up, were moving again". Glad you can get in some good games of chase in the backyard

When we had our cat Pam, she tried to climb our tree, too. Fortunately, we caught it before it went over and we were lucky she never tried it again. Our cat's with my oldest daughter this year so she can fun this Christmas .

Alice wrote:

Rhonda wrote:

No Alice.....I do not take Cain for walks.....He HATES the leash and when I USED to take him with me to the mailbox or whatever...he was the one taking ME for a walk.....it had to end the day he dragged me down....I had my hands full of mail and he darted off before I was ready to start walking, and I went down.....he looked at me with that, "What's your problem, get up, we're moving again." He belongs to Jake, so it will be up to him to get him leash trained.....in the meantime, we just play chase in the backyard for his exercise....

Oh my gosh, Rhonda! I hope you didn't get hurt when he dragged you down. How long ago was this? I wouldn't want to walk him again either!

I'm sorry, but the thought of him looking at you like "What's your problem, get up, were moving again". Glad you can get in some good games of chase in the backyard

He is going to be 2 this December and I would say it was probably a year ago......He just caught me off guard, took off and part of me was with him and the other part was on the ground.....picking up my reading glasses and the mail.....I'm just glad no one saw me......at least I don't think anyone saw me.....

It doesn't sound like you got hurt though, just a bit

My cat, Cassie eats not only the live trees we get but the fake garland! I'm forever running her off. I think this year I will put a small tree on our piano, and see what happens. She does not jump since she is completely declawed. I can bet I'm going to get some really dirty looks from her this next month.

I hope Cassie stays off the naughty list for you, Gin.

pamh36 wrote:

Yes, Savannah, I think that is exactly what Caesar thought, that we put up a great big toy just for him because we love him so much. Watch your tree around Opie in case Caesar emails him with any ideas.

Oh boy. The last thing that Opie needs is an email or two with more ideas!

Pam, that is SOOOOO funny!

Yesterday, as I was decorating our tree, our Beagle Jenna decided to chomp away on some beaded garland while I wasn't looking. I bent down to pick it up and she had stolen it and taken it to the family room! Needless to say, I had to bury that portion of the garland toward the back of the tree.

Rhonda wrote:

No Alice.....I do not take Cain for walks.....He HATES the leash and when I USED to take him with me to the mailbox or whatever...he was the one taking ME for a walk.....it had to end the day he dragged me down....I had my hands full of mail and he darted off before I was ready to start walking, and I went down.....he looked at me with that, "What's your problem, get up, we're moving again." He belongs to Jake, so it will be up to him to get him leash trained.....in the meantime, we just play chase in the backyard for his exercise....

Have you tried a harness? My dogs pull like CRAZY if I don't have the harness on them. If the leash is attached at their back (top of the harness) they don't seem to feel the need to pull, but if it's at the neck, it's like instinctual for them to pull. I suggested this to some guy I saw walking by my house whose huge Shepard was pulling him. He came back a couple of weeks later and thanked me for the tip---he had his Shepard with him and she was walking like a pro!

I don't even bother taking him on the leash anymore. He hates the leash...would grab it in his mouth and jump, jerk and fling himself around trying to get it off of his collar......He almost chewed the thing in two......so......he can now watch me from the backyard as I go for the mail.....he CRIES and CRIES......but I'm NOT going to take him with me.....