Hollis and I went running on Friday night.  Usually, Friday is our night off, but our Thursday run didn’t happen (work ran a tad late).  Well, Friday nights on the Milwood streets are hoppin’!  We saw lots of dogs that we usually don’t see – we even saw Rocky and he and Hollis got into a bit of wrestling mischief.  Hollis was thrilled that he could approach Rocky.  Usually, Hollis will whine and plead for me to allow him to play with dogs passing by.  This time, I let him!  Both dogs were CRAZY excited.

That night, for the first time, we saw a cat running across the street.  Oh no.  I thought to myself. If Hollis jumps and gets excited when he sees a dog, he will surely knock me over trying to get to this cat.  But Hollis didn’t react.  He just kept on jogging.

Same thing happened at the pet store.  We walked by the cats and I was sure Hollis would jump and whine and cause a brouhaha.  But he just walked on by …

Nothing.

At first I was in denial.  He must not want to chase THESE cats.   It’s just these cats in-particular.  As soon as he meets a spunky cat, he’ll chase it.

Then, I decided it was a choice.  Hollis grew up with Mercedes – his surroundings have made him prefer chasing dogs to chasing cats.  What have I done as a parent?  I have made my dog an outcast!  Nature vs. Nurture!

But then I realized … God made all different kinds of dogs. Hollis is one of God’s puppy creations that just doesn’t care about cats.  It’s just Hollis’ instincts.  He only likes to chase other dogs.  I may not understand it, but I love him anyway.