Your pets odd quirks

Kash

The thread on what your dogs do & don't eat made me curious about your pets odd little quirks and behaviours, something that sets them apart from the rest . Each of my 3 pets have something unique to them (at least in my experience) and I find their little idiosynchracies very endearing.

My cat loves to wrap his right paw around my hand and hug it tight to his chest when I pick him up,

My youngest dog stretches out like superman to sleep, front legs straight out the front, back legs straight out the back...

And our eldest snarls to say hello! It's like she learned how to smile or something... she only does it to us and her favourites of our friends and family (who occasionally find it a bit off putting!)

What does your pet do that sets them apart for you?

mikemac

Do all dogs do this, our golden retriever and border collie hate it.

You lean over the dog, suck in a big breath and blow on their neck. They hate it, go mad and jump and run away.
Even if they hear you breathing in they know what's coming and run off.

Not saying we do it, just one of the children torments them.

DamagedTrax

when i have a shower my staffie pokes her head around the door every 20 seconds to make sure im still there. then when im drying myself she sits dead still in front of me and stares until i hang the towel up. weirdo

she also likes licking my tattoos.

she loves her bandanas and will sit with them licking them clean and makes happy pig grunts when i put them on her.

borderlinemeath

Where do I start?

Coco hates being lifted, particularly off the couch or the bed. If you go to lift her she half growls/howls and it sounds like she's saying "No"

Also if you tell her that your going for a shower, she goes in and sits on the bed so she'll be there when you come out of the bathroom.

We don't have a doorbell or even a doorbell on our gates so people ring to be let in. If the phone rings and you have a one liner conversation and hang up - she runs to the front window waiting for the gate to open and to see who's coming.

She refuses to run after a ball if you throw it behind you. She looks at you and almost rolls her eyes to heaven. She has to get a head start and be in front of you to get the ball. If you have the ball in your hand and you say "do you want to get your head start" she skulks around the back of you to get in front of the ball so to speak.

We have a new rescue dog who has now gained confidence so is going through the chewing/digging/shredding phase. Everytime Benson does something he's not supposed to - Coco starts barking and runs in to the house or the garage where my OH is working to "tell" on him.

Lpfsox

my former dog (he died of old age in 2009) used to "babysit" - he'd go up to the bedroom with the kids and lie on the floor beside their bed just being with them until they fell asleep. Then he'd come back downstairs. If they were sick he'd stay with them all night, even waking an adult if he felt something was wrong like they were coughing or something, he was like a real nurse with them.

The current fella has a modern art thing going on with teabags - he'll take them out of the bin and arrange them around the kitchen floor then he'll step back, admire what he's done, rearrange them another bit until he's happy with the whole picture and then leave the kitchen altogether. He doesn't burst the teabags or otherwise play with them and it's really funny to see him pondering his work and then moving one teabag slightly or turning it around until he's happy with it.

This is the same dog who sits in the window like a huge cat and waves at passers by...

Kash

mikemac wrote: »

Do all dogs do this, our golden retriever and border collie hate it.

You lean over the dog, suck in a big breath and blow on their neck. They hate it, go mad and jump and run away.
Even if they hear you breathing in they know what's coming and run off.

Not saying we do it, just one of the children torments them.

I just tested this on my two, and had a mildly curious look round from one, and a licked nose from the other....

Fluorescence

My dog acts like a cat when she wants cuddles. She'll come up to you and start rubbing her head against your leg the way cats do until you pet her. She hasn't quite learned how to purr yet though :pac:.

She gets food from her bowl and brings it to the other end of the kitchen (where the dining table is) to eat it, and then goes back for more. It's as if she wants to be like "one of the grown-ups" at the big table :pac:.

Also, if you lie on the floor she brings you kibble from her food bowl. It's really sweet

Lpfsox wrote:

The current fella has a modern art thing going on with teabags - he'll take them out of the bin and arrange them around the kitchen floor then he'll step back, admire what he's done, rearrange them another bit until he's happy with the whole picture and then leave the kitchen altogether. He doesn't burst the teabags or otherwise play with them and it's really funny to see him pondering his work and then moving one teabag slightly or turning it around until he's happy with it.

That is amazing! Dogs are deadly

kylith

Rani loves being upside down in OH's lap.



Don't worry about her showing her teeth there; that's her Elvis impression, she does it when she's getting a good belly rub.

Lpfsox

fluorescence wrote: »

That is amazing! Dogs are deadly

not when I've to tidy up the art and wash the floor it isn't - all the time he's looking at me with a really dismayed face on as if he's saying "sheesh, that took me AGES to do...."

He also does the taking food out of his bowl and bringing it someplace else (the sitting room rug usually) to eat. Only with "delicacies" though that we might give him like a piece of chicken or something, the kibble stays in the bowl all the time.

mikemac

The water bowl must be spotless and the water must be cold.

Never mind he's filthy and sticking his face in dirt and and god know where else, if there is a speck of dirt in the water bowl he will turn his nose up at it.

We have our own spring so the water is cold anyway
But leave the bowl out for a while and he will not finish a bowl of room temperature water
Sticking his filthy face in the water and then looks at me like it's my fault the water now has dirt :rolleyes:

Begs non stop at the dinner table.
Yet if I walk past him eating his dinner he growls and gets aggressive.
Disturbance only works one way I see.........

westies4ever

my two both play dead when i say 'bedtime'. they absolutely will not go out to their beds (in the kitchen) themselves. Both have to be carried out and tucked in bed like babies.

borderlinemeath

westies4ever wrote: »

my two both play dead when i say 'bedtime'. they absolutely will not go out to their beds (in the kitchen) themselves. Both have to be carried out and tucked in bed like babies.

Sounds like my nieces yorkie, she curls up into a ball and tucks her head under her paws when told it's bedtime! Only because she doesn't want to go outside to go to the toilet first!

sensibleken

Greyhound that refuses to go for walks a lot. will just put on the brakes and lean backwards

Meemars

Our girl whines loudly and pathetically every time she hears a News jingle - ANY news jingle, be it RTE, BBC, SKY, & all radio channels. I can't figure it out! We got her at 8yrs old from a shelter. Just wondering is this some sort of memory from her previous home life (she had a happy life before, no neglect), and why on earth? Who whines at the news? Nutty Mutty

littlebug

My dog won't touch the stuffed kong I leave for her when I go out. I think she just lies in her bed and looks at it When I come home and let her out she'll bounce around all happy then run back in and get her kong and spend the next half hour happily nibbling

This one I certainly won't complain about.... she never chews anything:D She's in the house all the time and in the utility room when we're gone / at night and the worst I've ever found was a torn sheet of kithen roll:p though I think she did open a bucket of fat balls (for birds) once and take one of them into her bed but didn't eat it. I'll occasionally find a sock or slipper in her bed but not chewed.

Yesterday I found a a whole jar of marbles emptied out onto the middle of her bed and the dog just curled up around them:eek: My daughter swears the lid was on properly!

she also does the drop dead thing at bedtime :rolleyes

seamus

Whenever I mention the words "bath" or "bed", she immediately rolls onto her back because she knows that makes it much more difficult to lift her or otherwise move her.

Also she has been known to pretend to be asleep when I say "bed" by quickly opening one eye to check where I am, then closing it again. We're going to try leaving her in the sitting room during the winter cos she prefers sleeping in her bed there anyway.

She also howls in crowded places, especially places crowded with dogs. It's very funny.

westies4ever

seamus wrote: »

Whenever I mention the words "bath" or "bed", she immediately rolls onto her back because she knows that makes it much more difficult to lift her or otherwise move her.

Also she has been known to pretend to be asleep when I say "bed" by quickly opening one eye to check where I am, then closing it again. We're going to try leaving her in the sitting room during the winter cos she prefers sleeping in her bed there anyway.

She also howls in crowded places, especially places crowded with dogs. It's very funny.

ha ha love that - the word bathtime in my house prompts my two to run and hide under my bed! i have to keep quiet and just put the lead on them ans bring them upstairs or i've no chance!

JustAThought

Love the thread!

Mine gets up and trots off to bed at ten pm no matter what we re doing or where she is: party with bedlam going on; the dog will weave her way through the chaos to go to bed at ten.

If you don't accompany her to her bed she will stand and stare at you; or come back and fro between rooms staring at you until you get up and escort her!!! Then she ll drop Down, give a happy sigh, turn on her side and start the snoring!!!!

meoklmrk91

He will come up to you doing the ''Boxer Wiggle'' let you pet him and then BAM right when you are least expecting it he will give you a big sloppy kiss right on the lips, he has exceptionally good aim, never misses, does this to everyone whether they happen to be sitting or standing. He also does this to me in the morning to wake me up!

Every night before he goes to sleep his will lick himself clean in the manner of a cat, even going so far as to lick his paws and wipe his face.

Whenever I am blowdrying my hair he will come over and look at me as if to say give me a turn and then when I do he just stands there shaking his head back and forth looking as happy as can be, I think it reminds him of sticking his head out the car window which he also loves.

And finally after my long summer off I have started college, I am gone much earlier in the morning and back later in the evening. On college nights he has taken to sneaking onto my bed after I fall asleep, but on weekend nights he will sleep in his own bed.

He just turned 1 today, I can't believe it, the 10 months I have had him have just flown by, he is the best dog in the whole world to me and I wouldn't be without him for anything. Happy Birthday Cooper:D

Andromeda_111

My dog loves chasing after lights, especially those pens lights. He'd do it all day if you had the patience to shine it up and down the hall for him. Even if I hold my hand out and pretend to press a torch he'll leg it down the hall searching for a light.

Also if I put a lid of a pot on the floor and give it a twirl he'll bark his head off and wag his tail at the same time. He just looks like he's having the time of his life. He's so easily amused.

merengueca

At some point everyday my fella will pick up his empty dinner bowl and hide it somewhere in the garden (behind the trees or in the turf shed). Great game on a windy night when you have to go hunting for it!

My parents kitten is truly mental though. My 2 year old niece is in love with the kitten and the feeling is totally mutual - the kitten climbs up the steps to the slide and slides down, taking it in turns with my niece. When the little lady is bouncing on the trampoline the kitten races over and either sits under it trying to 'catch' her feet or goes into the trampoline with her. I though cats had enoug sense to run away from toddlers:rolleyes:

Cherry Blossom

My lady insists on thoroughly making friends with everything she sees, she found a frog in the garden one morning last week and spent a good 15 minutes trying to convince it to chase her, she'd run up to it doing her snapping and leaning down on her front paws that they do when they want to play with other dogs, this had no effect so she gave it a push with her nose and it hopped and she went charging down the garden looking round to see if it was following, obviously it wasn't so she went back and repeated the process again. :pac: I thought it best to bring her back in though before she got pissed at Kermit's unwillingness to co-operate in case she might decide to eat him instead :P.

MaryK666

One of my male cats insists on lifting each individual piece of kibble out of the bowl onto the floor before eating it. And he will only take cat treats if I feed them to him on the table. The floor, apparently, is just not good enough for him when it comes to treats. The same looney loves water and will happily jump in the sink when the tap is running and then sit grinning at me, soaked to the skin. We got a large dog bowl for his water to stop him up-ending it and splashing about all over the floor so he now gets his toy mice, drops them in the water, waits till they're soaked through and then scoots them all over the floor for the same effect. And if I have the hose out watering plants in the garden he'll sit for ages trying to catch the water in his mouth and running in and out of the water at full flow. Dunno what the water thing is about but he absolutely loves water. Maybe I should take him swimming - Lol.

One of our girl cats will sleep in that "superman" position with front legs stretched out at the front and back legs at the back however she will sleep like this on her back which looks hillarious. The same little madam has what we call wacky races where she grabs a toy mouse in her mouth and tears around the house, up and down the stairs, up and down the cat trees and around the sofa repeatedly for about 20 minutes at a time with a manic look on her face. It's the funniest thing ever to watch. She also goes mental when I tell her it's bed time and runs up and down the stairs repeatedly until I get into bed. She then jumps up on my pillow and miaows at me until I lift the covers and let her snuggle up beside me under the covers. Luckily she only stays like that for about 20 mins as she's the warmest electric blanket you can imagine. She then snuggles into her fleece blanket on the bed beside us and suckles it until she drifts off to sleep.

Our original little man is very particular where he naps or sleeps and prefers somewhere warm so he'll wait till you're settled on the sofa and then come over and sit at your feet and miaow at you until you move over and let him jump up into the warm space where he immediately starts to snore.

Our original girl has always had her own cushion with "Lady of the Manor" on it and if you swap it for another one in her spot on the sofa she'll just keep pawing at the replacement until she knocks it on the floor and then settle back into her spot and go to sleep.

They're all a little bit mental but we love them all the more for it.

littlebug

another one... when we walk down through our village we always walk on one side of the road. Coming back up she has to walk on the other side... digs her heels and refuses to budge if I don't cross over. I think she feels she's patrolling the whole village for cats and won't have done her job properly if she doesn't do both sides!

DamagedTrax

another quirk i remembered, and anyone with a staffie will recognise this!

the flying headbutt

dolly will run at me and launch herself head first. sometimes she'll get my arm, sometimes a hip but more often than not i get it in the nuts ... and she bloody loves it!

she only does this with me and one or two friends who she knows she's allowed play rough with.

seemingly this is very common with staffs

Nead21

Kaiser licks his bed all the time.
He sometimes gets over zealous when licking his paws, and ends up biting himself!

He escorts us to bed and lies down by the bed until he thinks we're asleep and then heads out to his own bed outside the bedroom door.

He hates being outside when we're inside and howls when he's in water.

He sometimes forgets his own spatial awareness

He has loads of little quirks, gives us endless entertainment and we love him to bits.

tazwaz

i'm loving this thread

my dog oscar sleeps on his side with his paws crosses, if i uncross them he just crosses them again..
i now have the fire lighting again and he falls asleep in front of it but then he wakes up, runs to his bed in the kitchen and drags his blanket back in front of the fire and settles himself again...comfort!!...soo cute

he also has this thing of covering his eyes and thinks that if he cant see us we cant see him..when he knows its time for him to go to the garden while we gone working he jumps into bed and covers his eyes :-)

furtzy

Our last dog was a basket case...here is a list of some of her weirdness

She would only enter the house and leave the house through specific doors

She would not push open an ajar door to enter

She slept on her back or on top of her kennel

She would freak out if you wore something new that she hadn't seen before

She exercised by doing laps of the house at the same time every evening

There are loads more that I can't think of right now...she was the coolest dog ever though

Lpfsox

my friend's dog is afraid of shoes, I have to bring slippers when I'm visiting and change into them in the porch before going inside the house.

Some of the quirks in this thread are priceless though

HereticPrincess

Our two kitties have their own strange quirks that we love. Ella, the day we took her home we got her a small teddy, a pink fluffy platypus. She is so protective over it, sleeps with it, chases it and when she is all crazy she throws it in the air and catches it by herself for ages.

She also has a particular spot on the sofa, it's hers and if there's something stopping her from laying there, she'll stand there and stare at you. She meeps too, a squeak noise she makes at everything.

Brody is younger but a huge chubby tomcat. Doesn't realize how big he is, lays all over me and curls his tail around my arms. He also picks his food out and eats from his paw. He sleeps on his back alot with paws in the air, with his fluffy tummy on show.

VenusPlays

Fabulous thread!

Our dog Shiro does the lying like superman thing too. When he wants to go out for a pee he will come up to you and move his mouth like he is talking but with no sound. He plays fetch by running up to what you've thrown for him, looking at it and leaving it there to come back to you. He ducks his head and lifts his leg to help when putting on his harness to go for a walk.

Rocky on the other hand tries to take his lead from you and walk himself or if not will try and take Shiros lead and walk him. He spins in circles and barks when you are preparing his food and then sit quietly and waits til you tell him its okay to eat it. He curls up like a baby on your lap for cuddles and hooks a paw around your arm to make it harder for you to stop. He pounces on his toys to start playing with them.

If Rocky runs upstairs chasing the cats, Shiro will shoulder into him to give out to him when he comes back down - even if he followed him up there! The funny thing is he learned this off our older dog Jack who passed away earlier this year cos Jack used to do it to him and now he does it to Rocky who came to us after Jack was gone.

Jack used to sing at the ice-cream van.

Our cat Buffy likes to pee in the toilet.