The welcoming committee

Back in New York for a long weekend, before returning to Texas on Monday.

And here's a little Friday catdogblogging.

An immutable rule at our house, until fairly recently, is that there is always a Chow Chow guarding the door.

Chow Bella and Chow Fun, through a complicated and poorly-understood (by me) system, take "shifts" on the door, making sure that they know what's going on in the apartment hallway at all times.

The recent change is that sometimes Mister Gato volunteers to take a shift on the door. And though there was initial grumbling, the dogs now accept this. While he must seem a strange and oddly-shaped guard dog to them, no one doubts his ferocity.

Often, however, Mr. G. and one of the dogs guard the door together, as in this photograph. Mister Gato and Chow Fun were actually photographed by me while all of us were waiting for Carrie (working late) to come home, but this is very much what I saw (from the other side of the door) when I stumbled home with my baggage Thursday night:

The welcoming committee.

Be sure to check out the Friday Ark at The Modulator for pictures of bloggers' pets from around the world, and don't forget the Carnival of the Cats on Sunday. (This week, the Carnival is at Mind of Mog.)