My mom had a cat she took in that was like that. Little dude was a bruiser. You could see his big cat lineage in his eyes. He was cool with me petting him as long as it was on his own terms. We referred to him as Cujo which he seemed to enjoy (I'm pretty sure if any real cat was a Stephen King admirer it was him). Whenever I'd pet him I could feel all his battle scars. Try as we might to keep him indoors he always got out. This pic captures the attitude perfectly. Hope your friend gets to adopt their bruiser (and manages to keep them an indoor cat).

I'm so glad to know the piece struck a chord with you! It means a lot. The story is beautiful. Thank you for sharing! It sounds like you were good friends.

I always appreciated the fact he trusted me enough to lay up on my lap. He was one of the few 'people' who ever liked my guitar playing lol. He'd lay next to me while I practiced on my moms porch and sometimes he'd even watch. It was like he was listening though he probably thought it was a cat being tortured lol. My ibizan hound Haiku is another example of my gaining an animals trust. She used to be terrified near me due to her not being socialized as a pup (due to a heavy winter not any kind of abuse) but I was really patient with her and now she loves coming over to me for scritches. It's such an amazing feeling.

He must've been such a sweet cat! Maybe your guitar playing actually sounded like cats singing to him :)
I'm not that familiar with dogs but I looked up some pictures and it seems to be a very pretty looking breed. Was she abandoned before you took her in?
I've adopted my cat hardly more than half a year ago. But I can totally agree that the way the relationship progresses is fascinating.

Haiku was born in the midwest US during a blizzard. Her breeder didn't really have the ability to get out and about for almost three months. Plus we believe she was abused at some point by a large man who lived nearby. It was a mix that made it so that when she arrived and saw 6'5" me she was super skittish around me. I just did my best to give her space, never make sudden moves around her and always be encouraging. I didn't think she'd ever come near me at first but after six months of soft words and plenty of hot dogs she warmed up.

She's still skittish but she LOVES scritches. She loves it when I really dig in and get a little rough even lol. Beezers are just very cat-like so it's more like petting a cat. They always have that thing where it's like they're going to poof somewhere else at any second. She doesn't lick me but she'll boop my hand with her nose and every morning and night she has to come in and get good morning and goodnight scritches. We definitely have customs between us now which means a ton.

I mean you read about dogs and owners having their 'things' they share and I have three dogs each with their own unique, funny and amazing personalities and all of them to a degree came to trust me because I do my best to be kind, caring and compassionate.

It makes it a lot harder to beat up on myself when I screw up that's for sure lol. We have five other ibizans but I only really get to see Haiku, Geb and Haven. Arainia, Zeppelin (Zeppy) and Ronan are on my ex's side of the house and he prefers nobody bother him. It sucks but I do my best to respect his boundaries.

Whoa that's a lot of dogs! And they all also must have their own attitudes toward each other. Your relationship with Haiku sounds really sweet btw. I think the cat poofing away when petted is called overstimulation. I didn't know it occurs in dogs too

Geb's the goof with the heart of gold. He's a nursemaid who has sat on my chest while I've had seizures to help keep me on the bed (I fell off it once while having one and broke my shoulder). When I read about dogs like Togo and Haichiko I think of Geb.

Haiku is our high level rogue. She's a troll (think any troll Celestia meme and you've got her personality to a T) and a thief. And a princess. She's also fast as lightning and has won a whole bunch of races.

Haven is the most cat-like. She's also a wire-hair and looks like a muppet. Specifically she looks like Splinter from the 1990 TMNT movie only with all-white fur. She likes to lick hands and feet and has the most attitude. When she wants something she lets you know. I named my barbarian in Torchlight II HavenHoneyBadger after her. Her kennel name is 'Rainbow Dash' which pretty much says it all lol.

Geb must be a really smart dog tbh. He realized what was going on and probably acted swiftly too. And one loving dog of course:)
I've always thought wire-hair looks somewhat awkward but also cute at the same time. It should definitely be a pain to groom though.
So they partake in dog competitions/races? It's really heartwarming to hear how much you adore them.

Geb's smart when he wants to be. Dumb in a lot of other ways. In other words your typical sighthound boy lol. As far as grooming wires what's that? lol. She really doesn't need much grooming when we bother. Their hair's just short and stiff enough it retains its shape and doesn't need brushing save for at shows while being just long enough to attract burrs, dirt and other detritus lol. Most the time we brush her its to get stuff out of it she collected around the yard.

They haven't competed since 2013. We don't really have the money to enter them plus in the last few years we've had to spend money on a few emergency vet stays. Geb came down with some mystery virus he must have picked up in the yard and almost died and Haven swallowed a sock.

Oh I just thought it was really easy for wire-hair to get all tangled up. It's nice to know it's not that bad.
I'm really sorry about the virus... and the sock (lol). Hope the disease didn't cause Geb any long term harm.

Oh he's fine. He's been doing a lot better recently. We've managed to keep his weight on via his regular food and a six hot dog a day nomming habit lol

Lol that's a nice habit. I'm glad he's okay :)

thanks for linking it in reddit, and omg, the sotry behind this pic is cute :'3

Thank you! I'm glad you like it :)

Love this musculature and lighting. Also fantastic facial expression!

thanks a bunch!