Me & Udo
In the interests of trying out a different template for the photo/text layout in Flickr, I am forced to show you another photo of a cat.

Since I'm on the topic, my two cats are Ragdolls, bred at Briar Glen Farms in Sooke, BC. Inu is a blue point female and Udo is a blue mitted female. Both are around three years old.

Inu's name comes from the word "dog" in Japanese. Ragdolls have the reputation of being like puppycats. Inu follows me around, does tricks for treats, comes when she's called, etc. She's really smart.

Udo was named after a German cyclist (who also competed in Ironman Hawaii, the Holy Grail for long-distance triathletes) Udo Bolts. There are two reasons why she got a boy's name instead of what we originally planned (Hanako or "flower child" in Japanese). First, I love cycling, but my bike was already named Lance, so that was out. More importantly, every time we opened the door, she bolted outside and up the hill into the blackberry brambles where she would meow plaintively until retrieved. When we anglicized Udo Bolts' family name we got something quite descriptive of our new kitty's behaviour.

Udo (the cat) refuses to be trained to do tricks. I can't decide if that's because she's smarter or stupider than Inu.
- posted by Sandra Smith @ 9:50 PM