JFF- Pet Quirks

Our little cat, Naughty Princess, has a lot of quirks. When she uses the litter box she has to stand up to poop. She stands up on her back legs and leans on the wall with one of her front paws and does her business. She also hates closed doors- if we close one of our bedroom doors she will stand at the door and cry as loud as she can until it's opened. Have to use the bathroom at my house? You'll have company- Princess has to be in the bathroom when anyone is in there. But she hates when anyone is in the shower. She will stand on the tub ledge and cry until you get out. Any time the toilet flushes the cat has to stand on the tank and watch the water go down while her little head makes the circular motion with the water swirling. The cat is nuts but we adore her!

Grady TALKS - when he is going for a play date - he sits in the front seat of the car and TALKS to me the whole way - one time I took a wrong turn INTENTIONALLY and he FLIPPED OUT!!

Now that he is house trained - he sleeps with the boys at night. When they have friends over, they like to sleep in the family room and Grady sleeps BEHIND them almost in the crevice of the couch...it's HILARIOUS.

When he wants pretzels (his FAVORITE treat!) he will come into the den - where his jar of pretzels is, and paws us and looks at the jar. he will talk to us too and look at the jar.

Obi - our old dog that we put down in Dec 08 - he did NOT like us to kiss either - he would bark at Bob anytime he grabbed my butt or kissed me..If we hugged - Obi would just bark until we broke apart!

My cat, Lucy, loves my 2 sons but hates other boys. She snuggles up when my sons hold her. But when their friends come over and try to pet her, she hisses and will try to scratch or bite at them if they come too close. She has never done this with a girl. However, Lucy loves piano music so when one of my son's friends sat down to play our piano yesterday, she came running into the living room and started rubbing up to him. She had hissed at him earlier but now that he was playing the piano, she decided he was OK and liked him. Later, when this same friend tried to pet Lucy, she was back to acting scary. What's up with my weird cat?

No pets of my own -- I'm a pet sitter. I have a set of "twins" who spin around 3 times in tandem whenever they're at the back door getting ready to go outside. They look like they're performing in a circus act.

Another one actually poops on command. All I need to say is "Lucy, do your business!" and she does. Dogs are fantastic creatures with amazing personalities.

I LOVE my job. It's kind of like having grandchildren. All of the fun of pet ownership, without the responsibility of vet bills-food bills-etc. I just do the fun stuff -- playing, petting, walking, etc.

OMG: where do I begin?

ChockO: Old English Sheepdog mix. He's our 1st herder....& our last. We are not allowed to walk anywhere in the house without him "herding" us. It's an absolute riot when my Mom is visiting & reprimands him all the way down the hall! Sounds of "leave me alone, dog. I can walk all by myself" follow her all the way. LOL! He rarely sleeps in any one bedroom. He prefers the hallway so he can watch all of us! ....which means we all have to be careful in the middle of the night....

He is skittish. He barks furiously at men when they walk in the door. He loves children, & is excellent at governing himself around little ones. He refuses to play with most toys, & when he does - he's very timid in his actions! He loves tug-of-war, tho'. His "owner" is my 15yo son. He will listen to me, & denies authority from my DH & my 24yo son. Quite the hardhead! Loves to walk, loves to visit the school in our neighborhood. & is absolutely excellent when it comes to socialization with other dogs!

& most importantly, there is a look of pure Joy on his face when he's running the yard or playing chase with our other dog. 80lbs of joy....

CoCoa: our beloved labradoodle. He is the epitome of every single good trait of the cross-breed! A perfect example- both in physique & temperament! He's a clown....loves performing, loves toys, loves playing games. He opens doors all thru the house! He reaches over the fireplace gate (a necessity for my daycare) to get his toys out of the basket. He has no qualms about throwing toys at us to initiate playtime.

My sis has a mini doxie. When they're visiting, our ChockO plays nonstop with Beemer. Quite frequently, at bedtime, CoCoa will hang around Beemer & my sis. One night, CoCoa actually raised his paw & used it to "pet" Beemer. Seriously, he was using his paw to stroke Beemer on the head & down his back. My sis & I were astounded that he could govern his movements like that! OMG....& ever since then, CoCoa does it each time they visit! Beemer's the only dog who'll allow CoCoa to do it. :) Amazing!

CoCoa is a milk chocolate labradoodle. His beauty stops people in their tracks! We have him shaved 2-3 times each year, & that's when you really see the lab in him. He's 80lbs of pure muscle, according to the vet. He considers my sons his playmates....& it's funny how insistent he is when they're wrestling. He's quite the butt-biter! A common event in our home is to have both dogs running the loop thru the great room, with my sons &/or DH at it too. Would drive most people nuts....but I love it! Oh, & what's even funnier is when my DH &/or both sons (15 & 24) + + both dogs are on our bed wrestling! That's when my camera is out! It's amazing our 30+ year old bed doesn't break!

***My pleasure with these 2 dogs is that they work together on everything. They share food/water bowls, they respect each other. Both defer to each other. I truly believe it is the labradoodle's even temperament that sets the tone for our home. He is the boss, but tolerates/shares beautifully. Both dogs take reprimands quite well, & are very self-governing. Love them!

My 4yo dog EATS SOCKS. At least 1-2 per week. He's done it since he was about 6mo old.

It's highly annoying.

Worse, there's no such thing as "careful enough" with our socks, because he can open the bloody dryer door! He just hooks his bottom fangs on the door and backs up. It took him 2 days to figure out my mum's dryer when we were visiting for a week. And he remembers how to open it.

After almost 4 years, we even know his "Sock Preference"

Clean White Kid's socks are his favorite
Dirty white kids
Clean colored kids
Dirty colored kids
Clean white adults
Dirty white adults

etc.

The only socks he WON'T eat are our knee high wool snowboarding socks. Which makes for hot feet in the summertime.

Upside; they either pass or come back up.

I say 'upside' because our vet has several labs that eat ROCKS. Those have to be surgically removed.

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Beloved CUTE thing? I used to do the 'soccer mom seatbelt grab' on my puppy in the front seat when he was little (you know, how mom's did back before seatbelts? And still sometimes do?).

So now when we drive, he reaches over and puts his paw on my lap whenever we break.

Awwww.

My 6-7 year old golden/lab mix (he was a rescue so we don't know exactly how old he is or exactly what he is) doesn't like the water bowl below 1/2. Drives me nuts! If it's below the level of his liking, he'll just sit, stare and whine until it's filled all the way to the top again!

Then both dogs, (the other also was a rescue and is believed to be a 6 year old lab/husky mix) just seem to 'know' when I'm getting dressed to walk. It's so bad that if I'm heading to the gym first or just to walk myself without stopping to read all the neighborhood pee-mail, I have to slip my shoes out in a bag because they go nuts! And along those lines they 'know' that when my cleaning lady shows up, I'm taking them for a walk. We started that years ago because the first one, the golden/lab, would want to play and take things like dusters and vacuum heads out in the yard hoping she would follow him. So I started walking him, now them, when she gets here so they are tired. A good dog is a tired dog!

But they do bring so much joy and laughter to our family.

My father in law, lives next door and they have a dachshund, I have a Pyrenees. You have heard of cleaner wrasse fish? Well I call the dachsund the wiener wrasse, he cleans my whole dog, butt to mouth. My 150 pyr opens his mouth wide and lets the wiener wrasse inside to lick the back teeth, grosses me out, but I know he probably has the cleanest dog teeth in Texas. I call him the dentist, urologist, proctologist and ear nose and throat guy.

One of my 3 cocker spaniels has to sit in the passenger seat where he diligently watches the road! He looks to the right or left, when I do, but watches the road ahead more carefully than a lot of drivers I've seen. AND he does not text while in the car! LOL!
Some of you dog lovers need to get on Doggyspace.com It's a wonderful, exceptionally nice group of people...why? Because we all love our dogs!!! Give it a try! When you get on there, "friend" my 3...Romeo, Chipper and Cooper (the driving dog!)