"Torturing" a dog, the feline way

It isn’t always easy being a dog. Especially if you’re a chocolate lab named Aquinnah and you’re part of a menagerie that includes a very mischievous coon cat named Teddy.

Aquinnah, who turned five this month, quickly realized after we adopted him back in 2007 that he has to sit down before we’ll attach his harness and leash, so he can go out for a walk. He sits without fail, but the downside is that his predictability has caught the eye of Teddy, who’s always in search of something to bat around.

As any dog owner knows, a pup that is excited about going out will wag his tail. Aquinnah is Exhibit A. When he sits down to get saddled up, his tail swishes back and forth across the kitchen floor.

To Teddy, that lively canine appendage is like a fat, furry, animated piece of yarn. Parking himself behind the seated Aquinnah, Teddy bats at the tail. Rapidly, Repeatedly. And with a real sense of purpose.

Aquinnah, of course, jumps up to escape this abuse. That means no harness because he’s not seated. That means he sits back down to await the harness. That means Teddy resumes his tail-torturing ritual. And that means . . . I think you get the idea.

Fortunately, Teddy usually is nowhere to be found when Aquinnah and I head out, so this not-so-vicious cycle remains nothing more than an occasional source of frustration or entertainment, depending on your point of view.