Pet Quirks

fureverywhere

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
Is there anything unusual that your pet does that just makes you smile? Our Stumpy brings us leaves. You know how the average cat...yes Levon, I'm naming names...will present you with a mouse, a bird, a snake? Stumpy catches leaves. Very proud of herself too, you'll let her in and she'll be chirping through a mouthful of leaves " Look what I brought for youuu!". All summer there are piles of them everywhere, much better than dead rodent;)
 

Rocco, our little male chihuahua, who had his first birthday yesterday btw, does the cutest thing. He sits on his hind legs just like a meerkat. The puts his front paws together and waves at us.
 
Awwwww, I can just imagine, that would be a great picture! Our Chii does that too but she's not standing...so round in the bottom she rolls.
 

Our little chihuahua who just died last fall always had to be facing away from you to be picked up. So if you called him over, he march towards you as you tapped on the floor to 'bring him in', and then very deliberately turn around and wait for you to pick him up. If you picked him up when he was facing you, he'd start screaming.

And when I bathed him, it was like total paralysis took over plus 'noodle legs' and if you didn't hold him up, he'd slowly sag to one side until he was under water and he never tried to save himself. He was the most useless dog in the world because you couldn't even cuddle him. I think he had a form of doggy autism because he didn't like being looked at or touched, impossible to housetrain and we couldn't even take him for a walk because he was so slow that walking a block would take you ten minutes at a pace he could manage. The heart problem didn't help in that regard either poor baby. But useless as he was, he brought us a huge amount of joy for all of his fourteen years of life!

Funny thing was that no one else really ever saw the real Diesel because the minute someone came to the door, he'd carry on like he was defending our territory and his hackles would go up and he'd focus on those strange ankles in front of him and threaten and growl. Then he'd finally march back to the couch and wait until we put him back up on it and he was done....
 
Our 70 lbs "lap dog"... Abby, the Black Lab... is just that. She will crawl up in my wife's recliner, with my wife sitting there, thinking there is room for both. She has been the perfect dog. As a rescue, we couldn't have been luckier. She sits, lays down... does most everything on command. Never a hesitation to obey. Loose lease walks... she and I do 4 miles/day 6 days/week with never a problem. Tell her to go to bed at 9 p.m. and she will not leave her bed until 7 a.m. Perfect... except. She will not come. If she is in the back yard and you ask her to come, she will look at you and walk the other way. In the house, ask her to come and she will totally ignore you. If you really need her to come in from outside, just go out and say "Sit". Clear across the yard, she'll sit on her haunches and stay there until you walk up and lead her to the house. We've tried real meat, fancy treats, all kinds of affection and it doesn't work. Leave her alone and she will eventually wander to you... on her own timetable, not yours. Perfect dog with one flaw that just drives us nuts... and I think she knows it and enjoys doing so!!!
 
Grumpy Ol' Man said:
Our 70 lbs "lap dog"... Abby, the Black Lab... is just that. She will crawl up in my wife's recliner, with my wife sitting there, thinking there is room for both. She has been the perfect dog. As a rescue, we couldn't have been luckier. She sits, lays down... does most everything on command. Never a hesitation to obey. Loose lease walks... she and I do 4 miles/day 6 days/week with never a problem. Tell her to go to bed at 9 p.m. and she will not leave her bed until 7 a.m. Perfect... except. She will not come. If she is in the back yard and you ask her to come, she will look at you and walk the other way. In the house, ask her to come and she will totally ignore you. If you really need her to come in from outside, just go out and say "Sit". Clear across the yard, she'll sit on her haunches and stay there until you walk up and lead her to the house. We've tried real meat, fancy treats, all kinds of affection and it doesn't work. Leave her alone and she will eventually wander to you... on her own timetable, not yours. Perfect dog with one flaw that just drives us nuts... and I think she knows it and enjoys doing so!!!
Click to expand...


Must drive you crazy that Abby does that! Have you ever talked to a dog trainer/behaviourist to see other ways to reteach that necessary skill? Or I guess in Abby's case, it's not reteaching so much as it's getting her to do it at all. Hey, any dog trainers here and what would you do? Give this Grumpy Ol'Man some free advice. I'm sure Abby would hate you for it but he'll appreciate it!:playful:
 
Grump...the secret of getting them to come is voice tone...I'm incredibly soft spoken. But if the dogs even think about ignoring me they hear " WHO DO THINK YOU ARE, I'LL MOIDALYZE YA!!!". Then they both scamper up the stairs heads down and quiet as lambs. The neighbors must think I beat them. But behind closed doors they are the most spoiled pups on the block. But they do have to listen. They're sixty pound lap dogs;)
 
My old black lab Suzie used to be a lap dog, too. She loved to "surprise" you by running and taking a flying leap into your lap and then, as you were gasping for breath (she was about 70 lbs, too), she would look up at you with those beautiful, soulful eyes as if to say "Am I not the cutest thing you've ever seen?"

Once when I was sitting in my recliner she did that and managed to cause us and the chair to turn over backwards -- so there I was on my back with my feet up in the air, as she sat on my chest smiling down at me quite proud of herself. As I recall, I had a heck of a time getting up from that; the first problem, of course, was to get a smiling wiggly lab off of me so I could do anything.

My old Emily, a black flat coat retriever, used to bring me her food bowl when she thought it was time for her to eat. The first time, she'd just put it down by my feet. If I didn't react, she'd pick it up and whack me on the legs with it.

Dogs are such fun people!
 
LOL...totally agree, Butterfly, my little schnauzer will go in the washroom where her bowl is and stand there looking at the bowl and then looking at me in the kitchen....this goes on for several minutes until she gets her food...they are smart little critters.
 
I recently read a book called So Your Dog isn't Lassie.

Great training tips in that one. Most of the things I use to train a dog.

My beast, a 20kg dog believes she is a lap dog too. Somehow we do manage to both sit in a recliner, almost comfortably, with a couple of nudges from me.

She also believes that my side of the bed must be the best side.

If I get up for a toilet break during the night, she manages to get herself over to there while I'm gone.

Now I just say "incoming", and she knows to move away.

Getting a dog to come depends a lot on body language and verbal tone. They're more likely to come back to you if you use a high pitched happy tone and don't bend forward. And praise and pats do wonders, and for my dog at least, just that little bit of an extra reward - perhaps a tiny piece of dried liver. She's a food orientated dog though.
 
I forgot another cute trick. Sophie will tease everyone with a squeaky toy. She'll run up to Callie and squeak the toy loudly in his face n' run off. Same thing with the cats and humans..." MY toy, not YOUR toy!"...the cats will swat at her and look disgusted.
 
My little Poodle/Bichon mix mutt makes me smile often. When I bring her home a new toy, which I name and she remembers, she will play with it while I get settled in from shopping. When I go to sit down, in my usual seat, there will be the new toy in the middle of my seat. I feel like she's saying "thank you". :dog: At no other time does she do this. When she wants me to play with her and a toy she will drop it on my lap. Got to love your pets... they're family.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top