Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Tundra # 6

Over the next few weeks we repeated the Mushroom demonstration for Tundra five more times. And then a change came over him. Instead of sitting in the window of our bedroom and looking miserably down to watch the pedestrian traffic passing in the alley, Tundra scratched at the front door to be let out into the yard where he would actively seek Mushroom out.

Who can really say what caused the change in Tundra. Was it April’s theory that had done it? Or was it simply Tundra’s own resolve to no longer be Mushroom’s personal scratching post? I suppose the reason why wasn’t important. What was important was that Tundra was no longer going to allow Mushroom to bully him, at least not without a genuine effort on Tundra’s part to defend himself. I was as proud of Tundra as the father of a star Little League player would have been. Nobody wants his son or daughter to be a coward, and, as I learned, that went for pet owners as well. When Tundra hid in the house all day, I have to admit, I was a little ashamed of him. But Tundra’s new found bravery had caused the dark cloud in my sky to move away from the sun.

Even Mushroom seemed slightly taken aback by Tundra’s courage. But this didn’t stop Mushroom from attacking him. After Mushroom had gotten over his astonishment, I think he viewed Tundra’s decision to come to him as a sort of preferred customer service provided to frequent patrons: “That’s right, fight enthusiasts, no more looking fruitlessly from yard to yard for a fight—the fight now comes to ‘you!’”

Tundra took his lickings every day. He fought Mushroom, and he lost. But he refused to run. And Mushroom never held back. He gave Tundra everything he had, no holds barred. After weeks and weeks of this Tundra became a battle-scarred veteran of alley and front yard fighting. Tundra’s face and head now bore deep, permanent grooves where scar tissue would never allow fur to grow back. He even had a small notch missing from the tip of his left ear, a cat status symbol as distinguished as a broken nose or a cauliflower ear is to a Golden Gloves boxer. I noticed that Mushroom had a bigger notch missing from the base of his right ear. I wasn’t sure if it had always been there and I had never noticed it or if Tundra was responsible for the missing tissue.

Every fight Tundra had with Mushroom, he was Mushroom’s rival but his pupil as well. He was an apt student, and it didn’t take long for Tundra to begin using Mushroom’s own fighting techniques on the master himself. There was the neck embrace while simultaneously applying the eyebrow bite. The cat-boxing match was always dramatic. One cat stood on his rear legs while swatting down on his opponent; this caused the other cat to also stand on his rear legs until they were both in a clinching, hissing, biting, clawing, Tango free-for-all. And who could forget the ever-popular ground grapple evisceration? This consisted of Tundra and Mushroom rolling across the earth, both of them trying to get a grip around the other’s neck or upper body with their front legs, and then, with their unsheathed back claws, kicking furiously at the other’s stomach. Each cat’s goal was to disembowel his opponent. While patting Tundra as he lay next to me, he would sometimes allow me pat his stomach. If I pushed some of his fur back I could see the streaks of scar tissue that lined his stomach. I was sure that Mushroom had similar scars on his stomach. Fortunately neither cat was ever gutted on the lawn.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Dating Sites For Little People: Best Platforms & Tips

Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate

Over the next few weeks we repeated the Mushroom demonstration for Tundra five more times. And then a change came over him. Instead of sitting in the window of our bedroom and looking miserably down to watch the pedestrian traffic passing in the alley, Tundra scratched at the front door to be let out into the yard where he would actively seek Mushroom out.

Who can really say what caused the change in Tundra. Was it April’s theory that had done it? Or was it simply Tundra’s own resolve to no longer be Mushroom’s personal scratching post? I suppose the reason why wasn’t important. What was important was that Tundra was no longer going to allow Mushroom to bully him, at least not without a genuine effort on Tundra’s part to defend himself. I was as proud of Tundra as the father of a star Little League player would have been. Nobody wants his son or daughter to be a coward, and, as I learned, that went for pet owners as well. When Tundra hid in the house all day, I have to admit, I was a little ashamed of him. But Tundra’s new found bravery had caused the dark cloud in my sky to move away from the sun.

Even Mushroom seemed slightly taken aback by Tundra’s courage. But this didn’t stop Mushroom from attacking him. After Mushroom had gotten over his astonishment, I think he viewed Tundra’s decision to come to him as a sort of preferred customer service provided to frequent patrons: “That’s right, fight enthusiasts, no more looking fruitlessly from yard to yard for a fight—the fight now comes to ‘you!’”

Tundra took his lickings every day. He fought Mushroom, and he lost. But he refused to run. And Mushroom never held back. He gave Tundra everything he had, no holds barred. After weeks and weeks of this Tundra became a battle-scarred veteran of alley and front yard fighting. Tundra’s face and head now bore deep, permanent grooves where scar tissue would never allow fur to grow back. He even had a small notch missing from the tip of his left ear, a cat status symbol as distinguished as a broken nose or a cauliflower ear is to a Golden Gloves boxer. I noticed that Mushroom had a bigger notch missing from the base of his right ear. I wasn’t sure if it had always been there and I had never noticed it or if Tundra was responsible for the missing tissue.

Every fight Tundra had with Mushroom, he was Mushroom’s rival but his pupil as well. He was an apt student, and it didn’t take long for Tundra to begin using Mushroom’s own fighting techniques on the master himself. There was the neck embrace while simultaneously applying the eyebrow bite. The cat-boxing match was always dramatic. One cat stood on his rear legs while swatting down on his opponent; this caused the other cat to also stand on his rear legs until they were both in a clinching, hissing, biting, clawing, Tango free-for-all. And who could forget the ever-popular ground grapple evisceration? This consisted of Tundra and Mushroom rolling across the earth, both of them trying to get a grip around the other’s neck or upper body with their front legs, and then, with their unsheathed back claws, kicking furiously at the other’s stomach. Each cat’s goal was to disembowel his opponent. While patting Tundra as he lay next to me, he would sometimes allow me pat his stomach. If I pushed some of his fur back I could see the streaks of scar tissue that lined his stomach. I was sure that Mushroom had similar scars on his stomach. Fortunately neither cat was ever gutted on the lawn.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.