Last night, Noisette (our neurotic staffie) was sleeping with Cole when she gave a single bark – which is normally her signal that she has heard something outside and wants to go investigate. When we ignored her, she came into our room and stood there next to the bed, waiting for us to notice her, for what must have been a good couple of minutes.

Then she did something I have never heard her do before. She gave a short yelp, and wanted me to follow her. She often wants us to follow her to investigate noises, but her yelp was a first, so up I got to see what was wrong.

Well anyway, she took me back to Cole’s room, and then stood looking at the window.

Lo and behold, standing on the windowsill, on the outside, was Garfield, our cat. He had managed to jump out the window, and then could not get back in, so was trapped out in the street (Cole’s room is street-facing).

The interesting thing about this whole story, is that Noisette seemed to actually show concern for the cat. I did not see the usual aggression when she was alerting us to the problem.

And to make it even more strange, Noisette and Garfield get along like…well…cat and dog. Garfield is always trying to swipe poor Noisette with her claws, and Noisette is always trying to chase Garfield. Your typical canine-feline relationship.

But I do think, after last night, that as much as they don’t get along, they are actually, deep down, fond of each other. Like most human families – they may fight a lot, but when it matters, they watch each others back.

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