Freckles learned to stay home by herself on my long work days this week. This is mainly because she throws an absolute hissy fit whenever she has to go in a kennel. Hissy fits must burn off a lot of energy though because with the combination of staying home and not going jogging because of the snow, she was overflowing with nervous energy.

Last night she was running through the house over and over. Up the stairs. Back down the stairs. On the couch. Off the couch. And then she went into the new favorite sport in our house – Big Game Hunting.

Big Game Hunting develops when you take a dedicated hunting cat (Riley) and trap him inside because of freezing temperatures and snow. My cats don’t do precipitation. It has been so long since he ate a squirrel that he’s starting to look skinny. Luckily for him he realized that he could keep his skill set sharp by hunting indoors. The target is Freckles.

She falls for all the tricks. The “I’m just laying here in the hall minding my own business” ruse. The “Oh, is that my paw/tail dangling over the edge of the table?” ploy. Whenever she goes to investigate she gets high speed slapdowns like she’s his own private speed bag. But since she’s a dog she thinks she’s getting away with chasing the kitty and doesn’t realize that most times he leading her into an ambush.

They were driving me crazy so I made sure to get her to the dog park this morning. She ran so much that she ending up with her head between her knees open mouthed breathing in a way that usually has me running for a chest tube. After catching her breath (I wish I had her recovery abilities) we went home. I worked out with the Wii while they both napped. On my final stretch Riley came and cuddled on my left side. Freckles then cuddled on the right. It was a moment of peace. Then Freckles tried to stick her nose in his ear and he ran off. She followed and I could hear her getting smacked in the other room. Life was back to normal.