STRICT DISCIPLINE REQUIRED !!!

Now, as you know, I spend a great deal of my time looking after Asha. If she disappears for more than a few minutes, I call her, as it is highly likely she is up to something. I very often have to check she is not hurt when she falls clumsily off the cat trees, or the worktops, and I follow her around and keep a constant silent watch over her most of the time.

Recently, she got shut in one of the bedrooms, but I soon let mum know, so she was very lucky. I did consider leaving her there for a while so I could have some peace, but I couldn’t bring myself to be that mean. I am really very tolerant of her and rarely have to do more than give her one of my looks of disapproval in order to correct her.
However, last night, it was necessary for me to apply the strictest discipline that I have ever used.

We were all settled in the living room, complete with mum and dad and our dogs, and everyone was relaxed. Asha had noticed Gizzy was sleeping, and strutted over to her and sat right in front of her head, looking at her (as if she was checking that she really was asleep). After a few moments, she bashed Gizzy on the head with her paw and woke her up. Gizzy raised her sleepy head, obviously not bothered, whilst Asha, wishing to seek attention, continued to whack her round the head.

Well, I was so cross with her that I immediately jumped off my beanbag, and picked her up by the scruff of the neck and threw her a couple of feet away in order that she would leave our poor dog in peace. Following this, I returned to my beanbag and just glared furiously at her. She leapt onto the cat tree, took a glimpse at me, before deciding that it might be a good idea to behave and go to sleep.

Mum and Dad sat watching in amazement. They would never interfere with my training of Asha, and were obviously very proud that I had taken it upon myself to protect our dog. They explained to me that she just wanted to play with Gizzy. Unfortunately, what humans don’t seem to understand is that this is all part of learning, and good manners, and respect for sleep time is of utmost importance in the animal kingdom and another lesson that Asha had to learn. Between you and I, when she went to sleep, I left her for about an hour, then curled up with her. Think I am going as soft as my humans!

A BENGAL - OR A MAGPIE???

With dinner over and much clearing up to do, mum and dad commenced with this very boring procedure called washing up. All was going very well, until ‘saucepan time’ when the scourer was required to attack the dried up bits round the pan. Well, where was it? A mystery? How could this not be in its living quarters - on the dish
rack? Had it grown legs, and run away? Perhaps captured by aliens? Having searched, and searched, they still had no clues as to its whereabouts, hence, all that they could do was to open a new one, to complete the job.

Later, all became clearer as Asha was sat on the stairs with her new play thing - yes, you guessed it, she had carried the scourer out of the kitchen, and up the stairs, and was throwing it around with pride. She had done the same thing a few days ago with
the bath plug, and is, in my opinion, displaying the actions of a Magpie, as when she has finished playing with her stolen treasures, she stores them in our bed!! What a clever little thing, and so entertaining!!!

No pictures at the moment, the camera is being silly, but hopefully its just temporary.

BACK OFF GIZZY !!!

Whilst settling down on the living room cat tree, in her favourite section, level to Gizzy’s nose, Asha was not amused that Gizzy had chosen to glare at her, in the hope of a game. As you can see, Asha, not wishing to play at this time, gave her a very definite ‘clear off’ look.

Well, as I watched in silence, wondering what the response would be, I laughed to myself as my German Shepherd girl laid down in submission to the Bengal glare she had received.

Hence, little Asha was able to continue her wash in peace. I am confident that she is definitely getting the idea of how to train our dogs.

TAKESHI'S CASTLE - CONVERTS BLUE EYES TO SQUARE EYES!

Here you have it - photographic evidence of Asha glued to the television watching Takeshi’s Castle. For those of you with now knowledge about this programme, it is similar to It’s a Knockout, where people partake and compete in crazy games, regularly dressed in costumes and is certainly amusing.

ALL possible measures were taken to distract her, by myself and my humans - but little Asha was in her own world and absolutely nothing was going to take her away from her obsession with this programme.

Some may say, she probably just enjoys any programme - not so. This is the one for her. Great thing is that it is probably the most quiet and still she remains in the whole day, and we are all able to sit back and enjoy some peace and quiet.

Personally, I am not really bothered by television, but I know that many of my relatives enjoy it, especially the football.

WHILST THE DOGS ARE AWAY - THE BENGALS WILL PLAY!!!

Whilst I really enjoy living with Asha and my dogs, even I need some peace and quiet and after breakfast Asha and I usually retire to one of the upstairs bedrooms, for a cat nap. The dogs are not allowed upstairs and we are guaranteed to be left in peace. House Rules are that upstairs is BENGAL ZONE.

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day and mum decided to put the dogs outside in the garden, on their sunbeds with a large bone each. Well, as she was unwrapping the bones, my extremely sensitive nose decided that I should enquire the contents of these bone packages, so sleepily eyed, I forced myself to go downstairs to the kitchen, and once I had examined them, I decided that they were not to my taste and was happy for the Gizzy and Kye to have them.

I watched in silence, from the breakfast room table, as they settled down outside, and gnawed at the bones with a look of true contentment. (Poor things, such poor taste, and so easily amused!). I knew that they would be out there for ages, and immediately dashed upstairs to alert Asha. The potential of their temporary absence was endless, and this free time was not to be wasted.

We both headed for the living room, (where normally, the dogs spend their time). We were full of energy as this opportunity took away our need for sleep. Having knocked all the photos off the window ledge, we dashed around, leaping from our cat tree to the furniture, and jumping on Kye’s bean bag, playing with our dogs’ toys, just having loads of fun together, until finally, we were both exhausted and then realised, we had the fire all to ourselves. Well this was certainly a rarity, as we normally have to sit on the dogs, or tactfully remove them. So I settled down with Asha, in front of the fire to have a well earned sleep.Don’t misunderstand my love for my dogs. I would never want to be without them. It was just such a novelty that they were not there and we could have a downstairs game without them being involved. The thing is, they know that we are smarter than they are and we come up with much better game ideas than they do. So we always feel sorry for them and allow them to join in as we would hate for them to be left out. In fact, being caring dog owners, sometimes we even join in with their games, though, it is of our opinion that they are quite often boring compared to our wonderful imaginative games. It goes without saying that they are so much more limited than us. They cant climb up cat trees, they cant jump to the heights that we can reach, they have no spots and are totally incapable of purring. Truth is we would never want them to feel inferior as it is not their fault, and it has become our duty to do our best for these unfortunate creatures. They deserve our help, and we do our best to console them.

TO CONTINUE WITH THE DISH RACE SAGA.....

To continue with little Asha’s previous apprehension to be in a room with my dogs, and the progress which has been made, she has now become much more than just very confident. In fact, today, she strutted into the kitchen, with both the dogs, as soon as she heard the sound of the food bowls!! Normally, I am first on the scene but she beat me and started without me!! Well, I was shocked at her courage, but even more shocked at the fact that she had eaten more than her share, and cheekily pushed into my portion - greedy little girl.

As if this was not enough, she then approached Gizzy’s dish, and finished off what was left in there as well!!!. As you can see, Gizzy is helpless against this little snow Bengal kitten, and due to my excellent training, she just accepts that she has no choice but to surrender to little blue eyes!

I am not actually panicking yet, but I am starting to wake up to the idea that I am going to have to watch this little girl as she is showing signs of being ALMOST as clever as me!!!

DISH OF THE DAY?

You will recall that earlier on I expressed my delight that Asha is now becoming much more confident with my dogs. Well, this has continued and is obviously extremely good news.

I had to chuckle to myself today, when she approached Gizzy and her dish, (I would add that at this stage, Gizzy backed away and allowed this!). Hence, Asha obviously felt the need to finish the tiny scraps left, to display her authority over the dogs, and decided that due to her size, it would be much more of a successful achievement if she just got in the dish!!(truth is …. She couldn’t reach without doing this!!!)

I think that I can safely say, she is learning fast, and to accomplish this, without so much as a bark of protest from my canine friends, is quite an achievement for one so young and small. She even moved on to their water bowl (which is bigger than she is) before exiting the kitchen. Well done Asha - I salute you!!!

CAT - ASTROPHE !!!

Asha decided to explore the bathroom - big time!!! She thought to investigate the plant that had been sitting in the corner quite happily for months, and to attempt to climb up it like a cat tree, would be a good route to follow. Bang! Crash! AND a great deal of mess later, she had removed the plant, and it had taken up a new position on the toilet seat and stretched across the bath. The compost was just everywhere!!! and, the carpet, well….. See for yourself!!! I could not believe the mess that Asha had caused!!! She of course, was oblivious, as she cheekily continued her game with the taps!!! As you will notice from the photo, upon my arrival to investigate what all the noise was about, she decided to attempt to slope off quietly accross the bath, in the hope that I may be left to take the blame!

Surely, this time, Asha would be in for a real good telling off???or - would I get the blame??? Mum, having heard the shatter of her plant holder, and anxious to asses the damage, seemed to conclude that it was her own fault for leaving this opportunity open to Asha. She blamed herself for the occurrence, ’I should have shut the bathroom door’ she said, and set about, clearing up, without even one bad word to Asha. Well, I was totally ‘gobsmacked’,yet, somewhat relieved that she was quite clear in her thoughts that I had not caused all this mess.

The outcome was, a load of Vanish foam, to remove the stains my little girl had caused, a dustpan and brush, then a hoover, and that was that. Truly, these humans are so forgiving!!! Following this unfortunate event, mum picked me up and I received a huge cuddle. I think she was worried that I might have thought she believed I was to blame, and she gave me the assurance that it was quite clear who the little culprit had been.

I know in my Bengal heart that mum and dad love us both the same, but I am sure that they are of course, very aware that I am the more mature of the two, and hence, they rely soley upon me to keep everything in perspective. I truly try my best, but with Asha’s activities, sometimes, it is truly hard going!!. She does things that I would never have thought of, and what’s more, with those lovely blue eyes she gets round mum and dad, and even myself every single time!!

The thing is, in all honesty, without her little antics, life could be very dull. Not knowing what she might do next, certainly keeps us all on our paws, as the possibilities with little Asha are endless. Bless her.

TUG OF WAR WITH MOUSEY

Today, Asha and I found a new game to play. We have a toy which is a mouse and a ball, they are joined together and are weighted. It is also filled with cat nip, and obviously we are both very attracted to it because we love the smell.

When mum ordered this toy, she didn’t realise until it arrived, that it was recommended for older, slower cats, and after discovering this, she had expected it to be of no interest to Asha and I due to our very young, energetic nature. However, she could not have been more wrong, and we both love it.

Every day, mum places lots of our toys on our upstairs cat tree, and Asha and I enjoy knocking them all off in different directions. Sometimes we just land the toys on the carpet, but other times we will have a game of pitch and put and try and land them in the hole on our cat tree.

Now, mum had dangled this mousey toy on the edge of our cat tree, with the mouse at the top, and the ball dangling, very tempting, and just waiting to be got!. Both Asha and I wanted to play with it at the same time. As you can see from the photo, neither of us would give in. Just look at Asha displaying her determination and strength, trying to win this toy. Needless to say, in the end, as a gesture, I let her have it. All part of her learning process, and the fact that I am just a nice guy, with excellent parenting skills.

THERE WERE TWO IN THE BED,'N THE BIG ONE SAID GET OUT!!!

As you will have learnt from past information, Asha and I have several beds. To be honest, before she arrived, I was happy to just snuggle in between mum and dad and that became my favourite spot. However, upon Asha’s arrival, she favoured this bed, which she quickly converted into a flat bed, as opposed to the igloo which it was originally. Hence, I felt that I needed to join her, in order that she would not just assume that she could claim this as her own. Problem being, both her and I have grown loads now, and I had expected that once she had taken the hint, she might go and sleep in the fancy four poster bed, or in my cat carrier, or in her pink carrier, or on one of the bean bags, in fact anywhere other than in my spot. I spread myself out in the igloo (now converted into a flat bed) in order that she would go and sleep somewhere else. Problem solved, (thought I). No Asha, and no banana cat nips - WRONG!! She literally laid across me without as much as a Bengal blink. Even though it was obvious that there simply was not room for the two of us!! Or so I thought..

‘Fine' - ‘just suffocate me’, after all, the fact that I was here first means nothing to you!!! Surely, I thought, once she realises that I am not moving, she will surrender and go elsewhere - no chance!! Little Asha was staying put. As I laid there frustrated at her for her daring to impose on my sleeping quarters, I realised that it was actually rather nice to be together, and to enjoy the warmth caused by such close contact. I acknowledged the fact that I could still breath, and that I should take into account, she is still very young and obviously enjoyed this close bonding. Due to the fact she is still a lightweight, I could cope with her tiny weight, and was not really being crushed to death. Time to show my maturity (I thought).

Consequently, for her sake, I decided to allow her to stay and together we travelled to the world of Bengal dreams until the following morning. At 6.30am, when, as usual, I woke mum with a purr and a paw, and knocked Asha off the bed for trying to take over my role as the early morning call.

A NEW APPROACH!!!

Well, fellow bengals, here we have it, Asha has chosen a new approach to the cat tunnel. Everyone else is happy to run through it, play inside it, but not Asha. She has decided to turn it upwards, and play hide and seek. I guess I should, yet again, be proud, as she is displaying her imaginative ideas, she truly never ceases to amaze me!

ASHA MEETS GIZZY!!!

Due to the fact that Asha is truly not keen on mixing with my dogs, even though I know they are as soft as marshmallows, mum has been carrying her downstairs this week, in the morning to my dogs, in the hope that this will give her the confidence to mix with them. Up until now, Asha has not been included in my canine world, this has been her own choice, but mum decided that maybe it was time we tried to work together and help her to overcome her apprehensions. The things is, Asha is a greedy little dumpling and cannot resist a little taste of cat meat as a change from our biscuits. So mum has played on this weakness, and has managed to encourage Asha, who will do anything for food, to join me and my canine friends for breakfast together. She placed her next to me, and told Gizzy and Kye to leave, and though Asha was a little nervous to start with, she soon learnt that mum and dad and I were there for her and she was safe.(She has yet to learn, that if she said booh, Bengal fashion, both my dogs would run a mile!)

This in itself has been very encouraging, but none of us could have predicted her actions this morning. All of a sudden, with no warning, she walked away from our food dish, having eaten more than me, and boldly strutted over to Gizzy. Well, mum dad and I just stared, silently and shocked, to witness the two of them rubbing noses, and Gizzy gave her a gentle lick on her head. Of course, being a sophisticated Zawadi Bengal, Asha responded to such a liberty in true bengal fashion and hissed at Gizzy, who was quite shocked by her actions. However, the outcome was that Gizzy backed off (due of course, to my training) and Asha realised that she was totally in charge and had nothing to fear.

This is something we have all been waiting for, and is a wonderful step forward for little Asha. Hopefully this will be the beginning of her future relationship with my dogs, and is very encouraging. It just shows, that with patience, and everyone working together, anything is possible. I have to admit I was beginning to think that she was never going to accept life with dogs, and I am so relieved to be proved wrong.

Hopefully now, she will begin to realise how much fun it is to compete for a place in front of the fire, and for the bean bags. After all, I know that I have trained my dogs well, and they will always give in to me, so there should be lots of fun ahead now that she is no longer wary of these soppy, oversized, non spotted poor creatures, and I am happy for her to join me for my breakfast anytime.