different takes on cat & dog superstitions

A black cat crossing your path is a sure sign of bad luck . . . or is it?  The same study on superstition that brought us "Judy and the Cats" a few days ago also has lists of these beliefs that I haven't heard before.  Here's some:

• If a strange yellow cat comes to your house, it will bring good luck
• If a gray cat follows you, it will bring you good luck
• If a black cat comes to your house, all the girls in the family will be old maids
• If a cat runs across the path of a young couple, it means that they will be married some day
• It is bad luck to take the cat when you move, unless you wave it at some one of your friends when you start (Needless to say, this is an old belief and completely wrong -- curator)
• If you will carry a black cat three times around the house on the first black night after New Year's eve, it will insure you good luck all the year
• If you notice which direction a cat's tail points, when she washes her face, it will tell you the direction the wind will blow
• Any person who despises cats will be carried to his grave in a howling storm
• If a white dog follows you before breakfast, you will meet with some misfortune or be disappointed in some way in the near future
• If a dog has its picture taken, it will be sure to die (That's clearly an old belief too - people didn't take many photos of their dogs in 1907, I imagine -- curator)
• If a dog howls with his nose up, it is a sign of fire 

And last but not least

If a black cat crosses your path, your wish will come true 

Fletcher Bascom Dresslar, Superstition and Education (University of California Publications vol. 5 no. 1, 1907), passim.