ohmidog!

An animal control officer in South Carolina responded to a call about a barking dog behind a Home Depot, and was touched when she discovered what all the noise was about.

“This is one example of why I love my job,” officer Michelle Smith said in her report.

A stray dog was nursing a kitten along North Pointe Creek in Anderson.

On Monday, a caller to animal control reported a dog had been barking in the area along the creek since Saturday, Fox Carolina reported

Smith followed the noise and found the dog and kitten at the bottom of a steep embankment.

She took them both to Anderson County P.A.W.S.

Smith said the dog is taking care of the kitten, cleaning and feeding it.

Animal control is hoping either the dog’s owner or whoever adopts her will agree to bring the cat home, too.

The love affair continues between Ace and the cat next door.

It started at my neighbor’s front window, where her new cat, Tom, would lay in the sunshine when she wasn’t at home. Tom was tiny then, just a few weeks old. And there seemed to be nothing Ace — and Tom — liked better than looking at each other through that window.

After three months of meeting at the window, and later playing peekaboo at windows of the front door, they eventually met in person, spending about  an hour running around my apartment and playing. A few times, they’ve frolicked outside. Ace chases him down.

Tom swats at Ace’s face, and then they start all over again. Sometimes Tom hides under the car, darts out for a quick attack, then retreats back under the car. Ace then tries to wiggle under, only to find he’s too big.

Usually, when I let Ace outside, the first thing he does is go next door — in hopes of spotting Tom.

Between actual, in person visits, that’s what they do – gaze at each other through the front window — Tom sometimes swatting at it with his paw as Ace jumps up, putting his paws on the ledge and emitting a whine or two.

Last week they realized that they could see each other on the backside of the apartments as well.

Tom started out sitting in the sill of the window above my neighbor’s sink. Ace would sit at the bottom of the stairs to the back door and look up, or climb to the top and crane his neck for a closer view.

On Friday, Tom decided to try and get a little closer too. Walking to the end of the counter, he stretched and managed to stick his face through the mini blinds on the back door.

Apparently that wasn’t good enough so, tiptoeing across what had to be, at most, a quarter-inch wide piece of door molding, he managed to get positioned between the window and the blinds. The blinds, I guess, were what held him in place as he walked back and forth, to Ace’s pleasure.

They spent about an hour visiting that way, with Ace every once in a while jumping up and placing his paws on the screen door, which, as you can imagine, isn’t very good for screens.

While Ace managed to add to the tear in my neighbor’s screen, Tom did a number on the mini blinds, which resembled spaghetti by the time the visit concluded.

Figuring I was responsible for at least half the damage, I grabbed some tools and went over Saturday morning while the neighbor was gone to fix the screen.

Fortunately it wasn’t torn, just pulled out from underneath the molding holding it in place. As I removed the molding, Tom showed up again, intent on watching the process.

That left the mini blinds even more haywire. Once the screen was repaired, Ace, after a warning that there could be no more jumping up on the screen, climbed up the stairs to visit Tom again.

He stayed for half an hour or so, until another neighbor pulled up into the driveway, at which time he tore himself away to visit her. Tom spent a couple more minutes wedged between the blinds and window, waiting for Ace to come back, looking a little forlorn.

As I mentioned the last time I wrote about this relationship, I think the door has a lot to do with how close they’ve grown. First, it allowed them to comfortably get used to each other without feeling threatened. Then, I think, it served to make them want to be together even more. The barrier between them only fueled their desire –  kind of like a parent who forbids you from seeing that boy;  or you being in New York while she’s in California.

Closed doors, like absences, can make hearts grow fonder.

There’s an old cartoon that describes the new and evolving relationship in my house — between Ace (up to now an only pet) and a recently arrived cat named Mister.

Ace has always exhibited an intense interest in cats — not so much in consuming them, it seemed, but just in meeting them.

Whenever he sees one, he becomes something resembling ecstatic. He tugs me toward them, pants, drools a little. He’s met a couple, while on a leash — and in both cases he didn’t want to leave them. I’d thought a bit about getting him one for a housemate.

So I was curious how it would go when Mister was dropped off. He’s a big, orange foster cat whose owner is going to Iraq. A dog park friend and seasoned cat rescuer had taken responsibility for finding him a new home.

For the first couple of days, Mister stayed in an unreachable nook of the bathroom. When he did come downstairs, he took to camping under the couch. He doesn’t seem exactly fearful of Ace, but does give off a don’t mess with me vibe, and hissed and swatted at him a few times in the first week.

Ace, meanwhile, gives off a vibe not unlike that of an awkward and overeager suitor.

Gradually, very gradually, Mister has shown signs of being a little more at ease around Ace, tolerating Ace getting within a few feet before he gives the dog a sideways glance that makes Ace back off and his face take on a look of confused rejection.

I’m not sure if Ace wants to play, or just get a good long sniff, but he has become entirely obsessed with the cat, and will lay for hours with his nose at the foot of the couch, waiting for the cat, who of course never comes out.

Of course, being human, I want them to hit it off, become best friends, play together, snuggle up with each other at night and create cute photo opportunities.

We’re still undecided on whether Mister will remain. There’s another family interested in him. Maybe he would be happier in a dog-free house. Maybe Ace would be happier being an only pet again.

For now, though, it’s like that old cartoon I mentioned. It shows a dog and a cat together. The dog has a blissful look on his face, and his thought bubble reads “True love!!!” The cat has a detached look of “whatever” on his puss and his thought bubble reads, “Detente.”