Really not our best friends!

I was amazed to hear about my friend Ira's dog Piney. Piney, a small rescue bulldog, is more debilitating than OCD or agoraphobia. Piney is possessive. He is offensive. He is expensive.

Ira and Piney

Piney keeps Ira and his wife from having friends over because he bites -- any person who looks him in the eye. Piney must eat special meat. Piney awakens his owners to go outside and then turns on them just as they return to the warmth.

Ira is not really my friend. It just feels that way since I listen to his voice so much on the This American Life podcast.

Ira's dog Piney would certainly not be my friend.

I wonder, though, why we -- like Ira -- tolerate so much when it comes to our animals.

Take Jake. He's the long-haired tomcat we unabashedly call Satan, Lucifer or Beelzebub. Jake will tempt you with his alluring fake sweetness. But if you don't bow to temptation, he will leave you alone.

Sometimes if you do not do his bidding -- getting his food, looking at his food, letting him in and out on cat command -- he will bite you. He definitely bites other cats, visitors and anyone who tries to put him into a cat carrier.

But we continue to pay his vet bills and stitch him up after every fight. We are enablers, I know.

Recently there were two more Jake incidents. The tennis party incident, where a forewarned friend tried to be a cat whisperer. Jake does not put up with that stuff. Yes, he bit her. Yes, she was bleeding profusely. Yes, she had to seek medical attention.

Then on Christmas Eve, when all were caught up in the glow, Jake chose this moment to get in a cat fight and come inside and bleed all over the floor. Once again, we did Satan's bidding, calling the harried vet out on Christmas Eve to stitch up Jake's neck. Jake would live to fight again.

We would never dream of allowing such misbehavior from our children. There would be punishment, lessons learned, attitudes adjusted.

But with Jake, we are at a loss. We can only use him as an object lesson, pointing out that he is a deceiver, the father of lies and, like Satan, he prowls the earth, seeking whom he may devour.

Be afraid.