As a rule it just does not occur as animals have a great ability to be able to ignore each other in everyday life, but just occasionally cross overs do occur and genuine "friendships" and bonding can flourish.
A few years ago Hughie was the only guinea fowl on the field. He was isolated and lonely and over a matter of days alone teamed up with a young cockerel called Rogo, who accepted the "relationship" with what seemed like a mutual affection and need.
Last year Camilla the orphaned Canada Goose teamed up with Badger the baby cockerel, and many moons ago our old cat Joan had a friendly, if not playful relationship with our first Welsh terrier, Finlay.
The exception always proves the rule,
as with humans, the over riding thing of importance with animals is to have some closeness with another living thing
 |
| The Inseparable Hughie and Rogo |
It was a sweet little moment of pack solidarity, which kind of underlined to me that Albert is indeed not as well as he could be.
More shit shovelling today...but not as much as yesterday...I'm working tonight!
A friend of mine (yes, another) had a Labrador which had his own pet rabbit once. Very touching.
ReplyDeleteAnd our Labrador, Monty, has his own dog (Bok).
ReplyDeleteLovely photo!
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather, not the most sentimental of men (pig farmer/slaughterer), had a enormously fat pet sheep and a sheepdog that had gone blind who doted on each other and wouldn't spend a minute apart.
How lovely.Indeed, animals sometimes put us humans to shame. I do hope Albert will soon feel better.
ReplyDeleteAll our dogs had our cats as friends, except because of allergies we an now catless. Love the pic, John, Rogo is so striking. I won a new book from We Are Pet Nation, on Natural Health remedies for Cats/Dogs, will see if there is anything for Albert in there that I can send off to you ... ?
ReplyDeleteOh, I do hope Albert is feeling better soon. Your description of their tender scene is very touching.
ReplyDeleteOur cat and our dog are good friends and love to tussle together.
Lovely story.
ReplyDeleteHope Albert perks up soon. ♥
And I hope your evening treats you well, John!
There, you've dont it again, got me all choked up.
ReplyDeleteWhat is wrong with Alberts eye, I must have missed a post.
Hope its nothing serious.
Briony
x
B
ReplyDeletehe had an eye infection which has cleared up now, but has been rather listless following antibiotics
How sweet. We had a dog and cat that became good friends, not an unusual scenario I know, but it seemed a miracle to me at the time.
ReplyDeleteWhen our lop eared bunny, Louie, lay dying in his cage, our cat Casey laid next to her. That rabbit had annoyed Casey for most of his life with his amorous advances but I guess even though their relationship was complicated, Casey cared about him. Either that or he wanted to make sure he was dead.
ReplyDeleteI wanted Chickens in 1999, Ofcourse I got the ones wearing hats. Then after I had a summer condo made for them and painted it yellow to make them happy, no eggs. I was told I needed a rooster. He hated me and attacked me every morning. I had him hypnotised, it worked for one day. yvonne
ReplyDeleteStarting over - that really made me laugh !!
ReplyDeletePoor Albert. I'm glad he has a friend while he is feeling off.
ReplyDeleteI love the comments as much as your post! A great subject John, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI must have missed something, what's wrong with Albert? Is he sick?
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's easier to give in to love than to constantly fight it. We have a few "mismatched" relationships at the Donkey Sanctuary too,e.g. Nello the sheep is madly in love with Pansy, a miniature donkey. And courts her day in and day out and sometimes she likes his attention and sometimes the poor guy gets a swift kick, but it doesn't deter him. I love odd love couples, it shows you that everybody needs somebody to love and be loved by, no matter who or what you are.
Get well soon Albert
ReplyDeleteThat's so sweet John...I hope Albert is feeling better soon. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteMaura :)
My cat and pooch snuggle up to and lick eachother too.
ReplyDeleteHope Albert is on the mend.
Ah,poor Albert....and sweet William.
ReplyDeleteJane x
Very touching blogpost.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Albert would feel better if you gave him some probiotics? I know after a course of antibiotics, i felt out of it. They killed everything, the bad flora along with the good.
megan
"More shit shovelling today..." You never mentioned that you contribute to "The Sun"!...But it was interesting to read your observations about cross-species bonding. I guess you see it in a more holistic manner than would be the case with academic observers.
ReplyDeleteIf William was focusing on Albert's eye, it makes me think there's still something going on in there. You know how dogs are especially sensitive to injured areas. When I was doing pet therapy with Rosie, she was always intrigued by bandaged wounds.
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only one who gets a kick out of watching interspecies friendships.
ReplyDeleteMy horse used to have a 'pet pigeon'. It would roost in his stall at night and he would save it a mouthful of grain every morning.
Love stories like this. Growing up we too had a dog and cat that were the best of friends. There are so many fun and touching videos online of entirely different species becoming fast friends. We could all learn from the animal world.
ReplyDeleteHope Albert gets better soon!
Poor Albert. Did he eat the chicken? I hope he soon feels better.
ReplyDeleteSweet William.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely thought, William showing Albert some TLC.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he knows Albert is not up to par and is doing his bit to help.
We once had a little runt pig "Henry", he ran with the dogs from day one, and never knew he wasn't a dog, even sleeping and eating with them.
His little head was cocked to one side, and the dogs would always allow him to rest it upon their bellies when they were all curled up to sleep.
A lovely post John.
~Jo
John,
ReplyDeleteHope Albert recovers soon, sounds like he just needs to pee that stuff out of his system. I just joined your Blog and am sorry I have not done so sooner. Have a wonderful weekend.
Doc, nice to have u along
ReplyDeleteGet well soon, Albert!
ReplyDeleteFinley, my Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross Rottweiler, and Luna, my kitten, love to cuddle. I'm sure that Luna thinks that Fin's her mum or something, she follows him everywhere! Strange cat...
Hannah
Denny-the-Dog is the only canine friend that Horatio P Mouser - the white 3 legged cat - will trust and they both often snooze together in the sun on the front verandah.
ReplyDeleteInteresting liaisons all.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about animals is that they never judge each other. My kind of friends are like that too.! Hope Albert's better soon
ReplyDeletevery concerned about Albert! is he still grooming himself?
ReplyDeleteI believe even human hermits find something living to share their lives with!
The interspecies friendship that most fascinated was one between a tiger, a lion, and a bear. They were raised together, and still live together in a shared habitat. They actually nuzzle each other! I wrote a post about them a while back.
ReplyDeleteWe eventually had to rehome a duck because he insisted on humping our mild-mannered Jack Russell bitch. Does that count......?
ReplyDeletePet/animal friendships speak to a part of us that admires love.
ReplyDeleteI positively weep over TV programmes about dogs and elephants being chums.
Still think your chicken header is the coolest!
I raise my glass to animal friendship, wherever it may be! Some of the cats round here are notoriously UNfriendly, spitting and hissing like crazy when they encounter each other in our back garden.
ReplyDeleteA dynamic duo you have there! My dog Sophie LOVES my cat Alex. She has no time for the other cats but whenever she sees Alex, she wags her tail and gives him big kisses, which he begrudgingly accepts!
ReplyDeleteAw, how sweet of William.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Starting Over ^ when my Mum's dog was dying the cat laid with her which she never did before.
It made me laugh when SO said her cat may have just been making sure the bunny was dead!
Lovely story John - hope all is well again now.
ReplyDelete