If someone had told me three months ago that I was going to live with not one but TWO cats I would have thought they had gone crazy. I’ve always been a dog person. Since I was a little kid I’ve dreamed of having a dog and have been constantly nagging my parents to get me one. Yet, not so long ago, two cats moved into my flat, but rather than turning me into a cat person they have turned my world upside down. Here is my pet story.

As I already mentioned, as a child, I really wanted a dog. I am an only child and really craved a four legged friend. I had snails (!) and a turtle as pets, but they didn’t fully exhaust my love and care potential. I really liked the turtle, though. But a dog was always on my mind. I took the matter very seriously - to the extent that I became a little expert on dogs, I read books, went to dog fairs and at some point I knew all the bones in a dog’s body by heart. A little dog nerd, that is. And then it happened. My closest friend and neighbor got a dog. Now that was it. If I could have, I would have spent every waking moment at her place stroking this cute puppy. His cuteness turned to be the best weapon against my parents’ reluctance to buy me a dog - I just brought him home and slowly my parents’ resistance began to melt.

Finally, the day came when they said yes. Words cannot express how happy I was. And the day we brought the tiny ball of fur home was one of the most memorable ones in my entire life. Even my mom, who was skeptical to the very end and didn’t join us when went to get the pup, fell in love the instant she saw him. And that was a beginning of a wonderful friendship. Impet, my dog, is now 14 and a dignified, yet still energetic, old boy. Ever since I moved out I have missed him every single day. Dogs are loyal and friendly. In Poland we even say 'loyal as a dog' (wierny jak pies). That brings me the linguistic part of the story – I was amazed to discover how many idioms and proverbs there are connected with dogs.

Let me quote a few of my favorites -

• every dog has its day (everyone is successful during some period in their life)

• it’s dog eat dog (cruel world)

• it’s a dog’s life (a life that is difficult and unpleasant)

• like a dog with two tails (very pleased and happy because something good has happened)

• to be dressed up like a dog’s dinner (meant to be impressive or fashionable but that other people think is not)

• there’s life in the old dog yet (although someone is old, they still have enough energy to do things)

Have you ever wondered why dogs (and other animals) make ‘different’ noises in different languages? An English-speaking dog would say ‘bow-wow’ or ‘woof’ for example, whereas a Polish one says ‘hau’ and a German ‘wau’. After all, when you hear a real dog bark it doesn’t sound like any of those.

Well, enough of those animally linguistic thoughts for today. Stay tuned, though! Next time I’ll finally to tell you something about my adventures with my new cats… (and how they actually got to live with me).

[Polski]

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