In our house you can walk in a circle from the family room through the computer room into the dining room and back to the kitchen.

We have 3 cats and everytime I feed them the two brothers will be at my feet crying while I put the wet food into their dishes. Smokey, the oldest cat at 5 years will march around the circle of rooms and will do this at least 3 times until I put the food down in their respective places.

When we had Sable (cat) and McKenzie (dog) I would get into my recliner and the McKenzie would jump up and lay across my lap. Sable would come running from wherever she was and would jump up and sit on the dog and put her body up the front of me and place her head under my chin. We would take naps in this position every evening while watching the TV.

Oh, I too am loving all the pet stories. I am a firm believer that we humans still have much to learn about any animials full capabilities.

The dog we had when our kids were growing up did not like our youngest daughters taste in music. Elton John was not to Gigo's liking and if Elton was put on the record player, she would get up and leave the room. But even when she became deaf in the last 2 or so of her 17 years, she would come from the far reaches of the house when the older daughter played her John Denver albums. She would come into the room and lay down right up against the sterio. It had to be the the vibrations in the floor that she recognized.
Our next dog, Snuffy, a 15 pound Lhasa/poodle mix, loved cucumbers and green peppers. She went to the garden and picked her own. She would carefully go through the cucumber patch, sniffing each cuc till she found just the right one, then pull it off the vine. When she made her choice, we tried to be there to help because if we didn't sometimes the whole plant would be pulled up. With the peppers she would just lay down beside her choice and gnaw on it if we didn't intervene. She spent a lot of time in the garden with me and the day she discovered where potatoes came from, we knew we were in trouble. Snuffy was diabetic, diagnosed at age 7. The first 3 months of me being the only one giving insulin shots to her went well. It didn't take long for her to get the routine of me saying "Come here Snuff. time for your shot. She would back up to me between my legs and I would pull up the skin on the scruff of her neck and with the other hand, inject the insulin. As I pulled my hand away, she would quickly turn and nip at my fingers. One Day I decided it would be a good idea for Dh to do the job, in case I could not. Snuff dutifully backed up between his legs when prompted and let DH shot her while I stood across the room giving him instructions. When Dh pulled his hand away after the injection, Snuff ran over to me and nipped my fingers, not his. And for the rest of her 13 years, no matter who gave the shot, I was the one to get nipped.

What a great story Gazania. Going out to pick her veggies! I'm sorry you always got nipped :)

She blamed you for teaching him how to do the shots LOL!

Shhh-Sparky only takes a daytime siesta in our bed on weekdays when DH is at work. On weekends he knows better.

If I'm driving and he whines it means 'roll down the window so I can stick my head out'. He used to whine at red lights when the wind stopped, but I guess he figured that one out, he doesn't do it anymore.

I want to join in, but the only thing I can think of right now is that my cat does not like me to whistle. If I'm in the chair and start to whistle, he'll come running and jump into my lap, get right in my face and give me one of those "silent meows". You know, open their mouths as if to meow but nothing comes out.

Snuffy picking cucumbers cracked me up.

Izzi my red Pomeranian is obsessed with my golf cart, which we call my big rig. If someone goes in the garage and starts backing it up she hears the back up beep, beep and has a fit to go for a ride on it. If we are out back and she has wandered away and I want her to come, all I have to do is start driving away and she comes running and I stop and she jumps on and then jumps on the seat. She would ride on it forever I think. Izzi would pick black raspberries down low when I used to go out and pick. The first time I saw her I thought she had burrs on her, but it was black raspberry juice. I am sure there are other things she does, but can't think of any thing else right now.

Sue and Izzi too

My Mother used to do a lot of canning and freezing. I remember she once bought a huge box of carrots at a farm stand, , still with the dirt on. She set the box in the kitchen. Our Beagle "Lady" used to grab carrots from the box, bring thenm to her bed (an old cushion on the kitchen floor) and eat them. These stories are great!

I have 3 cats a couple quirks....
King: he loves the ring that seal the milk carton. Everytime I open a new milk carton, without fail, he hears the seal break and rushes to me until I work it off with a fork. There must be a hundred of these hidden around the house. I find them in multiples everytime I move furniture.
Shadow: She likes to watch me make their plates of wet food in the morning. She is allowed only on one part of the island counter so that's where she stands to watch. But when I put the plates on the floor, she waits for me to pick her up and put her on the floor. She's a prima donna, that one.
Lucky: he is missing a rear leg and this is totally my fault...he wont go up stairs. My bed is upstairs. I have to carry him to bed everynight. And I usually get up at least once to go get him again (he does go down). I figure he has do his business and the only way back to bed is to cry for Mom...

Love them to pieces...wouldn't change a thing!

My Henry loves the rings off milk containers and will carry them in his mouth.

Marilyn sue, my granddog loves to ride with me on my handicapped scooter. She would ride all day if she could. She was highly upset with the neighbors dog that wanted to get on too. She likes the pekingese, but not on the scooter with her and her grandma.

Snuffy, that I told about in an earlier post also loved raspberries. We never got the berries that were 18 inches or less from the ground.You could hear her sucking sounds as she tried to coax off the berries almost out of her reach.

So nice to read about so many obviously loved, and spoiled, pets.

my little toy fox terrier knows the special ring on the phone that is my husband and every night when she hears that ring she comes and stares at me as I pick up the phone waiting to make sure, then I nod yes at her to let her know it is him and she starts running all around the house like a racetrack and finds her fave toy and runs to the door and waits for him with the toy. this never fails, and the nights he travels out of town and calls in she just can not understand why he never shows up she gets very upset.

My cat Garfield in that last year of his life had kidney failure and we had to give him IV's at home. He would let me know when it was time for his IV and I would put him up on the counter in the bathroom where we did the IV and he would just lay there and not move but he knew exactly how long it should last for the IV and if it was going long, the drip was slow, he would reach around and grab my hand in his teeth and just hold on applying pressure like ok lets get this over with now! Never did bite just let me know he was done.
That cat was a trip he was over 20 when he finally passed.

One of my Great Danes, on his own, learned to go to his toy box and pick out the toys till he found the one he wanted to play with then he would put all the others back into the toy box and take his toy and go. He was the neatest dog, and he never once tore a toy he treasured them and was very gentle with them.
Garfield and the Great Danes were all best buddies and did the grooming each other thing too. Garf would clean the inside of the Dane's ears, which was a big job LOL the Danes loved it and would go lay by Garf and stick their ears in his face.

Love, love all the fur kid's stories.....
Lynn, we have 1 cat, Kelly, that has to eat in the living room, while the other 2 are in the kitchen.....

Our newest kitten loves the bathtub and has to have a little "puddle" of water at her disposal at all times...I keep her in the bathroom at night, just to let the older 2 have some peace, and I know she sleeps in the tub....She also kneads one of the fluffy throw when she gets tired.....

During the night, one always brings a chewed up mouse (toy) and drops it in with the dry food.....

They're all such characters aren't they......

I've had pets (with and without quirks) most of my life and this is the oddest story by far. My neighbor had a big old black lab named Hank. Hank was kind of skittish and it took me the better part of two years just to get him to eat scraps on our property and not bark at me whenever I came outside. I'd set out a plastic bowl (think Gladware) with some scraps in it, he'd pick it up by the rim and bring it over to his property. Eventually, he stopped doing that and ate on my property.

About a year later, I noticed a strange large dog bowl in the yard, near where I'd normally place Hank's scrap bowl. I asked my neighbor if it was Hank's, thinking he might have brought it over because he was hungry. Nope....wasn't his. The only thing we could figure out is Hank wanted to eat out of a proper bowl and picked one up in his travels. He ate out of that bowl for the next couple of years.

After a while, when he was hungry, Hank would stand between our properties and bark until someone fed him (usually me). All I had to do was give a little whistle and he knew I had food. He'd lope on over, get a scritch on the head, give my hand a lick and eat.

While he wasn't mine, he protected my property and was a good friend until he got hit by a car. That was 6 months ago and it still makes me cry.

These are such wonderful stories, and you just know Harry, and even Sam, may have a quirk, or 20!

Clean water

Harry has the "clean water" obsession. Always has. He drinks lots of water and his big floppy lips splash it everywhere. Anytime I hear him drinking I walk into the kitchen to empty, rinse, and refill his bowl after his drink so it will be fresh and ready for the next time.

If I happen to not hear him, he will wait patiently, or come find me and let me know he needs clean, fresh water. He will drink happily from a pond covered with green scum and frog slobbers. He won't drink two-hour-old fresh water from a bowl.

Having a fresh water bowl is even more crucial now that Sam is here. Harry will not drink after Sam, no matter what. But then, I don't don't blame him.

Apples

I have not eaten an entire apple since Harry came to live with me. When I eat an apple I use a paring knife to slice off bites. I have a bite off the point of the knife; Harry has a bite off the point of the knife. We continue like this until it's down to the bone, and then Harry eats the bone.

Now it's a bite for me; a bite for Harry; a bite for Sam. I snap the bone in two and they share it. Sam has to take the apple slices from my fingers, though. I won't let him take a bite off the knife tip. Harry will touch the apple only; Sam will slobber up the knife blade. Ugh.

A whole vs. a half

During winter Harry tends to put on weight. I wanted to cut down on his Milk Bone treats by snapping them in half. Harry knows. When I try to foist a half-Milk Bone on him he looks at me as if I'm the most bogus person in the world. He takes it, with a huff, and slinks off rather than prancing off at his usual heads-up trot. I think I'll try buying the smaller Milk-Bones.

Sharing hugs...

Anytime Wes hugs me, Harry comes running and wiggles in-between us. He pokes his big goffy head up so he's being squeezed between our bellies. He just grins and wiggles and "hugs" back.

It doesn't matter if we're in the same room with him or not. We're in the den, he's in the kitchen, we hug, he comes running.

One day we were downstairs, in the basement, opposite side of the house in a seperate room. We decided to try a hug-test. We hugged, very quietly. We heard Harry jump off the sofa, run hell-bent-for-leather through the house, thunder down the stairs and squeezed himself between us.

Another time we quietly decided to sneak into the little broom closet to see what Harry would do. In 10 seconds he was there, most of him was inside the closet, and his head sharing in a big hug.

Silly, silly boy.

Sam and the Tennis Balls

Sam is also known as Sam Two-Balls (think clean!). Anytime you call him he runs to pick up not one, but two, tennis balls. He won't come without something in his mouth.

They stick out on either side of his mouth with his floppy, furry, weird lips overlapping them. I've got to get a photo; he looks so goofy when he does this. He'll walk around for a half-hour or more with the two balls protruding from his lips. He won't even accept a Milk Bone treat when he's having tennis ball time. He'll walk over to his blanket. He wants us to set the Milk Bone on the blanket so he can get to it "later."

Harry has a tennis ball obsession, but Sam has it 20-times worse. Sam has tennis balls stashed in every room. He hides them everywhere. Anytime he goes in a new room he has to inventory his stash. Before he goes to bed (he sleeps on blankets in the living room) he rounds up 10 or 12 of his favorite tennis balls and buries them in the folds of the blankets. He leaves some in his "nest bowl" and sleelps curled up with them. He looks like a goofy dinasaur dog trying to hatch out his eggs.

Carolone, I knew there had to be some good Harry and Sam stories. What a pair. Love the "hugs" story. And Harry's balls in bed is a scream.
Wouldn't it be great to know what is going on in his head?

Caroline, thanks for sharing! I love hearing about The Wonder-Dog and the Other-Dog.

Our current Westie, Eliot, doesn't 'do' stairs -- not upstairs not basement stairs, no stairs! Sometimes he even hesitates on ONE step, coming into the house. He's very far-sighted.

My late aunt was a great dog-lover, and the feeling was mutual. Years ago she sent me a pair of Isotoner slippers that were not her size. I never wore them, but they are on my closet floor. Obviously, they have her scent. Eliot adores those slippers! They are his 'thank you' gift to DH and to me if we've given him a treat, or after he's licked the last milk out of our cereal bowls in the morning. (Heaven forbid the cereal bowls clank together! El is so DONE and out of there!)

Our third Westie, Pip, was a TV watcher. He disliked horses and men with beards. We had one TV on a chest in the DR and another one that was set lower into a cabinet in the family room. Pip would spot a 'varmint' on the higher TV, bark at it, then run around to see if he could 'catch' it on the TV screen within his reach.

Eliot's least endearing trait is eating junk in the yard during the day and throwing it up at 3 a.m. in our bedroom. There's too much time between the cause and the effect for him to associate the two.

Most dogs lean out a car window. Eliot stands on the back seat with his front paws on the console and watches out the windshield. We have to go pretty far before he will give up, lie down on the seat, and let me drive all by myself.

Too Funny everyone...

My EKO used to jump on the bed and do this "love dance". It was a tango of sorts. He would take 4 steps and poke Dusty and take 4 steps back.

My Dusty sings Opera after he eats. Very high pitched and out of tune.

OKE, who is 5, just figured out how to kneed so now he like to knead everything.

Duchess would eat vegtable soup but leave the lima beans.

Let's see, my dog Rookie's favorite toy was a tennis ball. My GF kept buying him dog toys, but no, he wanted a tennis ball, or two or 20. I have an open stairway to the top level and he'd entertain himself when I didn't oblige. Usually around 2am - 3am when I was sleeping he'd take a tennis ball to the top of the steps and drop it. Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, then click, click of his nails going down the steps to get the ball, prance back up and bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, click, click, click.... and this would go on for 20-30 minutes before he'd get bored or more likely, he'd drop it wrong and it'd go off the side of the steps and behind the entertainment center. Then of course he'd need a new ball. I'd fish a dozen tennis balls from behind there on occasion. He also did not appreciate being left home. If I was outside working on something and open the door on the truck, he'd hop in and refuse to come out until he got a ride. And just getting in and getting out wouldn't food the wunderhound! I had to start the truck, back it up a little, drive it back and then he was happy. He'd also hide his dog biscuits. And he insisted on eating his food from the carpet. He'd pick up a mouthful and come into the living room, drop it on the floor and eat it. 3 or 4 kibble at a time (he was always careful about portion control!) then go get another mouthful and repeat

My one cat Sunny would see reflections in the water and paw at them. His paws were always wet. When the food dish showed the bottom he'd panic and gobble everything that was left and promptly vomit. I learned quickly to not let that dish show bottom. He also started to stand with his front paws in the water when he'd drink. Boy would that water get dirty quickly. He had a thing about grabbing cat litter with his paws and IDK if he was trying to wash them off or what but there'd be cat litter in the water dish and he'd have his wet paws.

KC the Krazee Cat isn't without her quirks. She drinks from the far side of the dish. I think the idea is to splash it against the side of the bowl and more would go in her mouth. Well I have a larger water dish now (one of the 1 gallon self dispensing type) and she always has a wet chest when she's gotten a drink. And when the dish is low, she let's me know. She'll bury the dish too if something is available when she doesn't like the food that day, otherwise she'll paw at everything around it. When the water dish runs out she drags it out into the middle of the floor so I don't miss it. Now this thing is *heavy*! And it sits under a chair so she pulls it out and moves it so it's obvious. She also likes playing "red dot". She comes and at times literally screams until I grab the laser pointer and she chases it around. Her toys are cheap. I bought different catnip toys and they're ok but when she wants something and I won't play red dot, she'll dig in the waste basket and pull out a crumpled up piece of paper (unless she finds one elsewhere) and chase it around. Bottle caps are ok but paper is lighter so it moves faster and farther. Cheap toys. Whenever someone comes to the door, she runs & hides. And when she so much as hears the UPS truck, ZOOM! She's gone. If I call out "KC, it's safe!" She'll usually come out again. Plus lately she's been concerned about me. I have some open incisions healing from some surgery a while back and one especially gets quite uncomfortable when something is rubbing against it. I fidget a lot until I can get comfortable and she doesn't like that so she usually leaves if she's in my lap but a couple times as I've been "rearranging" trying to get comfortable something touches wrong and I let out a YELP! A couple times now she's come running from wherever she was at (one time upstairs and the other downstairs) and jumped into my lap, came up to a couple inches from my face and looked me over to see what was wrong. Guess she's worried that something might happen to the food-filler. And when I'm talking on the phone, usually she figures I must be talking to her because she comes and gets in my lap and chats with me. Oh, and she figured out how to open a pizza box so no leaving it laying out anymore... Oh and she used to be very prim and proper about litter box use. When she buried stuff, she buried it so it wouldn't be seen! Big mounds. There's times she'd use what seemed like 1/4 of the litter. When Sunny came around, well, he didn't really care as much! LOL And KC did not like this. They had their own litter boxes and usually respected each others territory but Sunny? He must have known he'd have a shorter life span left so he wasn't going to waste it by burying those deposits! Oh, KC would get upset! At first she'd go in and bury it for him but that didn't last too long. When I'd be in the basement doing laundry or something she' d come complaining that he didn't bury his schtuff. And vocally too! But alas, if you can't beat 'em (up anymore), join 'em. She's not too worried about burying these days!

Ah these crazy, cuddly critters and their quirks!

Our dog, Emily, is a little odd. When you let her out back to use the bathroom and don't let her back in quickly enough she will jump the fence and come to the front door to be let in. She also loves to move our shoes. They usually end up on the couch, where she knows she's not allowed.

Oh Cynic, you write so wonderfully and vividly. I'm laughing picturing the balls going down the stairs; covering----rather not covering the litter (Smudge doesn't cover his, so Bud will go in and do it).

What wonderful stories everyone! Hmmmm do you think these heart-warming and funny stories will turn some non-pet owners into fur-parents???

Bitsy was my diabetic daughters dog. Every once in a while Bits would wake daughter up to go outside for a potty break in the middle of the night. One night Bits woke her, but wouldn't leave the bedroom when daughter tried to lead her out. In fustration daughter decided she may as well do a blood sugar since she was awake anyway. The test showed that she was low, low enough that in a short time, she would be in trouble. Bitsy continued to wake daughter from then on, sometimes to go out, but if she refused to leave the bedroom, daughter knew what she was supposed to do. Bitsy always knew when daughter's blood sugar was getting dangerously low before daughter did.

Ah, yes, the cheap toys! Eliot has a toy basket with a dozen dog toys in it. The only thing he wants is the stub of a well-gnawed plastic chicken-flavored bone. His other amusement is a dime-sized piece of bluestone gravel from our driveway. He'll 'gargle' that around in his mouth for twenty minutes at a time.

Eliot has succeeded where I failed. DH has stopped cursing during Bears games. Eliot no longer runs under the bed the second he hears the crowd noise from a game on TV. He knows Pop is going to behave.

These have me laughing and snorting......Thanks everyone for sharing! They really are our delights, aren't they? They add so much to our lives I cannot imagine a life without critters.

My cat, Shelley, loves to have me watch her while she eats. She will meow to get my attention, then run down the hallway to where her food dish is, looking back to see if I'm following her & come back to get me if I'm not! My other cat, Carley, can hear whenever I open a pouch of treats no matter where she is in the house & comes running.

Everytime we sit at the table, even if it's just to have a game of Scrabble, But will hop up on the chair beside me. He looks at me, and if ignore him (which I do intentionally), he'll put his paw on my shoulder, pull it back, then touch me again. Soon as I go to pet him he spins around with his butt up on the air, so I can scratch his butt, then he flops down on his side, so I can rub his side.

Watching him put his paw out, and cautiously touch me as if to say "excuse me", makes us laugh every time.

I've never ever seen a cat that flops on his side like him. He'll flop on my legs, and sometimes fall onto the floor. He flops against my side in bed, with a real thud. He just drops his body......it's hilarious.

Back when we had three long-time dogs, Cindy Sue, Stumpy & Lulu (only Lulu is still around), I used to feed them at 12 noon. Frequently at that time I would be lying on the bed reading that morning's paper. They knew exactly when it was 12 noon (not a particularly unusual feat in animals), & all three would jump on the bed & off the bed, on off, barking to direct me to the kitchen where their food bowls were.

If I didn't move fast enough, Stumpy, who was definitely the smartest dog we ever had, would eventually do something quite different. He would come over to me, drop his whole 60 lbs. of dog into my arms, look up at me with the most meltingly look as if to say "you are the most beautiful, wonderful woman in the world"...until I got up & fed him. He was a very manipulative dog.

Eliot has an excess of stomach acid, so he gets fed small portions three times a day. Our town has a noon whistle. Need I say more?

jasdip -- That is so precious about your cat's 'Scuse me'!

I don't know how unusual this is. I've never seen it before but that doesn't mean anything.

I have a French Bulldog named Bernie. He has 6 acres to roam and do his business in. He has a favorite tree just outside the yard area. At least once a day he will hike his leg to pee and the leg keeps going on up until he is standing on his front legs. At that point he's already started his business so he walks forward anywhere from 3 to 6 or 7 steps until finished. He's the only dog I've ever seen do a handstand and walk forward.

These stories are hilarious! My pets are not too exciting, nor skilled.

But my dog seems to love small appliances. Blow dryer, vacuum, steam cleaner, food chopper. When he hears one, he always comes in and plops himself down. I have to be careful when I'm vacuuming when his fur is long because he lies down right in front of it.

When he wants to get out, he runs up and bangs on the door. If I'm sleeping it jolts me awake because it's so loud. He also knows how to knock like a human. If I don't get up he does this because he knows I'll respond. I opened the door quickly one day to see that he does it with his hind leg, almost like a dog scratches himself, but he's raps on the door.

One time he used the remote to turn on the split system. I thought it was a fluke but then I watched him deliberately do it another time, and then another. He knew exactly which button to hit.

I always say that animals have more brains than a lot of humans I know.

My dog( an 85 lb black lab) Murphy ,used to get a Kong with that spray kong stuff in it when he was especially good. Like after he let you do his nails, teeth or whatever. When that got too expensive, the vet told us that we could give him peanut butter instead. Well, fast forward to anytime we get the peanut butter jar out of the cabinet. He scoots in and fetches that kong and drops it at our feet.Not any other toy- just the Kong !! EVERY time ! You can unscrew the lid of any thing else and he doesn't budge.
Just recently we couldn't figure out where the stick of butter I got out to make cookies got to. I would put it out so it would get soft. Maybe answer the phone in the next room and come out and the stick of butter is gone. The first few times, I chalked it up to me and old age. Then we found the evidence in the yard....Oh so busted. Now I put a bowl upside down over it and push it way back on the counter.
If my son goes to the china closet after dark to get a dish, he immediately goes into the kitchen to sit and beg for the whipped cream! Only does this at night time. Guess we don't eat ice cream in daylight!
And the worst thing he does is every time he gets a drink, he has to wipe his face off on the skirt on the sofa...ick

I have three cats and they are fed a small amount four times a day. So naturally they act in hysterics about how much they are staaaaaaaaarving between feedings even though two of them weigh over 17 pounds. :) They could have eaten an hour ago and when I go in to give them their second dinner, they fling themselves on the ground, rolling around and crying about how hungry they are and then race to trip me when I go to put the food down. Anyone who watches them would think I starve them!

When they want to eat and I'm sitting in the living room, they will slowly start circling me. I will notice one will be sitting across the room with another while the third is napping on the love seat. Then I look up 5 minutes later and the third has woken up and is now looking at me from about 10 feet away while the other two have moved closer. A few minutes later, one is on my lap, and the other two are lounging at my feet. And what's funny is that if I make ANY move at all, they will assume I am getting up to feed them and they will take off as full speed, skidding, into the kitchen. They remind me of little sharks circling their prey, haha. They have me well trained.

That is funny Chi!!!

I get a kick out of Roxie who's the smallest decide to run hell bent for leather and take off across the kitchen floor down the hall. She tries to get traction, skittering, and slides till she gets traction to go round the corner.

pris -- Eliot does the handstand thing, but AFTER he pees, and only if he has squatted like a puppy or a female. I think he doesn't want to get his hind feet wet! It does look pretty 'Circus Dog', doesn't it?

Oh, Bud is carpet surfing!
He likes to lay on his back under the footstool, play for a bit, spin around, then slide on his back across to under the armchair.

He'll spin around and slide back to beneath the footstool again.
What a loveable dork.

Our dog has a head shake that he does. At first we thought this was a sign of an ear infection, but no, it's just something he does. I have to say that the longer he has been with us, the less head shaking.

Our giant black lab Roscoe had gained weight and the vet recommended a different brand of dog food for him. I can't remember the name of it but it had some green bits and some yellow bits mixed in with the brown bits. Somehow, Roscoe could eat the brown bits and leave the yellow and green pieces until that was all that was left in his bowl. Then he'd eat the yellow pieces and walk away leaving the green pieces.

Our current lab, Bingo has had several ear infections from allergies, requiring medication deep in the ear canal every day for two weeks. I always sit in the floor and call her to me and let her sniff the bottle of medicine, and after she snuggles into my lap I medicate and massage her ear. When she had the last one I called her to me as usual and she laid down about 3 feet away from me, then crawled on her belly the rest of the way to my lap, complaining the whole way by whining. She did that every day I medicated her ear.

(And she's now on a preventative treatment where I put meds in each ear once a week. Hopefully this will prevent further ear infections.)

Since this thread, 5 years ago, Smudge has gotten a new routine. He's now 16, and he loves taking a throw pillow off the couch and drag it on it's edge beside him (the two of them side by side). He'll bring it to us in the bedroom at nite when we're in bed, or he'll put it somewhere if we're out. We often find it just inside the front door. This is not a small throw pillow, it's a good foot square.

The patterned one is his favourite, but this time he got overly-ambitious.

We used to.have a collie named Teaser who slept on the floor next to our bed at night. When DH and I started to "do" anything, Teaser would get up and slink out of the room until we were done. Then she would stalk back in, give us dirty looks, flop down on the floor and heave a huge sigh. She's been gone for years and we still laugh about it.

I love reading about everyone's pets and their quirks. One dog, Trickaloo warms my bed for me and if I don't come to bed by 10:30, she will come out and whisper woof at me and then go back and lay in my side until I come to bed. She's a sweetie, but protective. She started growling and acting like she would attack the tv whenever Hillary came on, but that only started after she arf arf arfed during a rally. Glad the election is over for a couple of years. Tobey mutes the tv now if Hillary comes on. LOL

My big cat Petey does "wheelies". Like when I walk near him he stands up on his back legs and passes his head under my hand. That must be boring him, because now he stands up, hits my hand, then proceeds. I call it the "high-five wheelie". Silly cat. :)

My Rottie stands up stretched against the wall in the frisk position. She does this to get you do give her belly and chest rubs. This is how she greets me. Lots of happy body wagging and then up against the wall. LOL

She also like to give bear hugs and be hugged back. The stronger and tighter the hug the more she likes it. She will hug cheek to cheek or lay her head on my shoulder. Many dogs absolutely hate being hugged because it makes them feel restricted and vulnerable. She will happily hug for 5 or more minutes if you let her. Sometimes when DH is in the room she will request a hug from me and then give him side eye. LOL

She refuses to jump up on the bed. Even if you invite her. If you invite her she will put her fore paws on the bed and want to be lifted from behind. This is a dog that can jump in and out of a truck's backseat so it's not ability. It's a very strange quirk. But we have a dog that naturally stays off the furniture.

She loves rocks. She has also moved bricks and twelve inch pavers across the yard playing with them.

Showers. We have to make sure we close the door tightly or she will try to get into the shower with us. She's ambivalent about baths but she loves taking showers.

As I recall Jasdip, isn't Smudge a pretty big fella? He's a two pillow pussycat. And as he's aging, those floors aren't getting any softer! Was it Smudge who would rattle the cabinet door pull for catnip?

One cute thing my dog does is after she's finished with her food, she gets her mouth full of water and slops it into her food bowls and gets every last bit of food out of her bowls. So funny! When she's laying down resting and we sit down on the floor to pet her, she moans and moans the whole time we are petting her...it's the cutest thing. It's similar to a cat purring.

I'm loving these stories, so glad this thread was bumped!

Our old girl had a few quirks, but the one mentioned upthread was the peeing hand stand. Yep, a female. Especially if she picked out a spot of tall grass, she would stand on her hands.

She was a rescue, so we had no idea of her past. She was somewhat trained, so had not been ignored. But early on she had a fear of the dishwasher. If she wandered into the kitchen and the dishwasher door was open, she'd run away. I suspect she wasn't allowed in the kitchen, as she'd stand at the end of the peninsula and peek around the corner. She lived with us for 15 years, so she got over that one.

She also would pick up a mouth full of food, carry it to the carpet, and drop it. Thanks for the crumbs, sweetie.

Her nighttime walk was at about 9:00. Every night about 8:55, she would start staring and get fidgety. If someone didn't respond, she'd get up and pace around in front of us. Sometimes if we went a little early, we had to give her a signal. We would make the very quietest "psssst" noise, and no matter how asleep she was, she instantly perked up and knew it was time. That lasted until her hearing went.

We never trained her to stay off the furniture. I think she knew that from her previous life, as I never once caught her. But I found out that when she stayed at her friend's house, she would get up on the couch. Busted!!

Cynic, Bud is the catnip hound:-)

Smudge showed last nite that he's still got it! Last nite Bud was standing at the entry to the livingroom. All of a sudden he fell to the floor and was tackled by Smudge. He couldn't get up, and he's 6 years Smudge's junior and stocky.

Smudge started howling, as if cheering, then the two of them chased each other down the hall.

Nice to read :)

Maggie has a new habit. When I get home at the end of the work day and change, it's time to sit and unwind for a few minutes. Son and I will do the crossword before embarking on dinner and homework. Mags likes to sit in my lap when I sit, and has figured out we're coming to sit down, so she'll eat what she wants as fast as she can and race over to the side of the couch that she jumps up from, even if I haven't changed clothes yet. With that "Now? Is it time now?" look on her face. She always comes into the bathroom regardless of why I am in there and begs for water. I've taught her she has to say water as close to humanly possible before she can have it. If she tries only meowing, I say nope, and stand really still. Not even petting her. She's almost down to doing it on her own rather than me prompting her. Silly girl.

My son's cat loves plastic. He'll get into the trash and dig out a straw if he sees you put one in. Or, if he hears the rustle of anything plastic, he'll come to where you are and try to eat it if it lands on the ground?! Ate an entire kite tail once because it was plastic. Dumb, plain ol' dumb!

What a wonderful read...all the old stories and the new. Keep them coming.

My story is about a little girl I overheard in a store toy department a few days ago. Mommy she said, are we going to get some gifts for other kids again this year? Mom says, yes we talked about that. Find some things that you think some other kids would like. Oh, the little girl says, not here! I want to give all those kids a pet!

What a wise little girl, she knows the value of a loving animal in any home.

Our bichon loved to lick our lab's eyeballs. She puts up with it!