Little by little, cats and dogs sauntered in – each offering woofs and meows of victory to come. The dogs howled three-peat! The cats snarled a new double-digit streak would begin today. Scorpiokirsten guaranteed a cat victory after an offering to the dealer gods was accepted, which was quickly scoffed at by the curs. It took until almost the last pair was done before it was known who was correct. Poor Jonnie (the smalldog from Singapore) had to leave before he could find out.

Without AnnasKitchen or the Bow-Wow-Café being open, it seems the cats feasted on British BigDog Roast with Poodle Yorkshire Pudding and Flaming Terrier Jubilee for desert while the dogs stood to the side and salivated. Hopefully, a cat or two had some pity and snuck them a snack or two. The BigDog gnawed on his leg of mutton (even though he claimed to have a preference for cat leg) while waiting.

Round One began with the first cry of victory being a dog howl! The dogs yipped the first slam by Seaweed and LoraineW (6H). Slurs about felines and canines were slung while waiting for results between my beloved cats and dogs. But it all ended in a 7-7 tie.

Round Two was uneventful but for a slew of slams – all by the much-aligned dogs. They were: Cath_Ating_Dog/DPDoggie007 (6S); Jean1998_1999/xBrorsen (6D); The_BigDog_UK/The_SmallDog_Singapore (6H); DrAnnaLee/Woo7NT (6NT). Even with the cur-begotten slams, the round ended with a bare win by the dogs of 15-13.

While waiting for results, there was a discussion of what could be done with betterduck (could the dogs have been so hungry to consider eating one of their own?). There were comments of Buttered Duck; Duck a la Orange; Peking Duck; Cracked Duck (which was gently corrected to Crackling Duck). Sure hope this was all talk and not a portent of next week’s meal!

Round Three found Cath-Ating-Dog/DPDoggie007 with another victorious howl of a 6H slam. The cats came back with a happy purr of 6H being bid and made by Errikos53/Kebbers_98. And the results came pouring in with our ever-so-helpful Moose keeping track of the count (in between swigs of beer and whiskey). After a bit of seesawing in leads, the first Ryder of December ended with a final score of 29-27 for the hounds.

Undefeated Trophies to Errikos/Kebbers; Jean/xBrorsen; CuteDoggie/BadDoggieintheDoghouse; Ydnas/Amecat; Cath-Ating-Dog/DPDoggie (WAY TO GO YOU HAIRY CRITTERS!)

Slams to Seaweed/Loraine (6H); Cath_Ating_Dog/DPDoggie007 (6H) and (6S); Jean1998_1999/xBrorsen (6D); The_BigDog_UK/The_SmallDog_Singapore (6H); DrAnnaLee/Woo7NT (6NT); Errikos/Kebbers (6H) (Kudos one and all.)

As usual, subs were put to work the second they walked in the door. Thanks to all of you!! And they were (or at least thought they were going to be subs until I made them play): kibblesandbits_milkbones2; bobsgirlanne (who only came to visit); Suzi_C51; Zebbon; Flaunce (who got stuck as a cat again, poor dear); Jimkat (who disappeared just when he was needed); Voicess (another visitor called into action); Borderline; L-Tall_Sallie (specifically paged to come help); AnnasKitchen; Barbara1424_98; Red-Bengal

Dog Teams were glossit/suegloss; jean1998_1999/xbrorsen; cutedoggie/baddoggieinthedoghouse; seaweed4_48653/lorainew; psspill/morrisbud; meanoledog/betterduck; rsquirrell/dixiedees; cath_ating_dog/dpdoggie007; the_bigdog_uk/the_smalldog_singapore; bichon_puppy/ytme; drannalee/woo7nt; steven_h_d/armpushrod; imtigger2002/kibblesnbits_milkbones2/suzi_c98; bobsgirlanne/zebbon/voices

Cat Teams were harlequin_smiles/littleladybug; melkor_vala/roblyn2000; scorpiokirsten/gane32000; aimejoue/smilodonkiwi; sammygirl/whodde; sugarmt2000/cat_o_9tails; ernietomcat/bertkitty; errikos53/kebbers_98; alanmitchell/lynh; alley_cat92/epicox; ydnas4321/amekat; j_l_unruh/overtroubledwaters; kippers68/pom_two; one_spade_kitten/jr_aces4u