Tell me about your animals' idiosyncracies

Springcurl · 06-06-2012, 09:16 AM

Anabelle has two ball-type toys. They are identical except for their color. If she's playing with the red one and it goes under the couch she comes over to me to get it. if I don't feel like getting it I'll pick up the blue one and throw it to her. And she won't play with it. She waits for me to get the red one. (sometimes that happens vice versa, too)

Drives. Me. Crazy.

legends · 06-06-2012, 09:23 AM

My dog likes to sleep in one particular corner in the kitchen during the night. She'll nap anywhere throughout the day, but at night it has to be that corner, and she doesn't like people around when she goes to "bed." So when I have people over and it's late, she stands in her corner, looking anxious and annoyed with a GTFO expression on her face, waiting for everyone to leave so she can sleep.

claudine19 · 06-06-2012, 09:27 AM

My male dog likes to do a particular very rapid nibble on the sheets when we get ready for bed. One of my pillow cases has loads of odd little puncture marks as a result.

nynaeve77 · 06-06-2012, 09:27 AM

My dog likes to lick the water off of everyone who comes out of the pool. Like, she give people a total tongue bath if they're not careful.

My cat prefers to drink from the toilet over her water dish. I could give her fresh water every hour, and she would still rather drink toilet water.

divegirl · 06-06-2012, 09:42 AM

Curie currently sleeps on the rug at the foot of my bed (because sleeping on my bed is too hot, apparently). But if I get up to go to the bathroom during the night, she will squeak at me just as her way of getting me to acknowledge her.

Corona likes to swat at my pant legs as I am getting dressed. He will also nibble my fingers and toes to try to get me out of bed in the morning. When he gets comfy before napping, he will inhale and let out this very satisfied squeaky/groany sound.

Both my cats also love it when people come to visit. They are seriously sociable. They hear the front door open and they are right there to see who it is. They also enjoy rubbing up on people's purses/bags/shoes when they come over.

Springcurl · 06-06-2012, 09:44 AM

my cats love visitors, too!

I forgot to add that if you come to visit Linus will INSIST on smelling your breath.

claudine19 · 06-06-2012, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nynaeve77

My dog likes to lick the water off of everyone who comes out of the pool. Like, she give people a total tongue bath if they're not careful.

My cat prefers to drink from the toilet over her water dish. I could give her fresh water every hour, and she would still rather drink toilet water.

I've been wondering about the water thing about animals lately. Why do they prefer toilet water (albeit clean toilet water) or muddy, bacteria laden puddle water over chilled, distilled water inside?

LadyV69 · 06-06-2012, 10:44 AM

Sometimes when I pet Hazel and I stop, she'll let out this squawk in protest. It's the only way I can describe it as it's not a regular meow. She'll keep squawking until I resume petting her.

Springcurl · 06-06-2012, 10:52 AM

Gig is extremely fastidious. She sleeps with me every single night. One night she stopped sleeping with me. I was like, WTH? A few days later I changed my sheets and she started sleeping with me again.

Like.Australia · 06-06-2012, 10:54 AM

Both of my dogs are barkers, but we try to keep them from barking AT people when they come in the door. My older dog seems to not be able to control himself, so, before he runs to the door to "greet" you, he will go and find his favorite toy and put it as far into his mouth as he can and then run at you with muffled barks (totally not something we trained him to do). The younger one has started doing this now too. Little crazies.

webjockey · 06-06-2012, 11:21 AM

My dog doesn't play. I've tried every toy imaginable. He doesn't care.

He also loves hair - particularly long straight hair with the faint scent of Pantene. He'll just nuzzle and rub his whole face in it.

I don't think he does this anymore (we don't live in the same house anymore), but he used to steal my bath towel after I took a bath. Not sure if it was scent of the soap or the slight dampness that he loved.

legends · 06-06-2012, 11:24 AM

She also doesn't like dog treats. If you offer her one, she'll take it, but she just holds it with her teeth. When your back is turned she'll hide it under the couch or something.

wild~hair · 06-06-2012, 11:26 AM

When I say, "Batty Girl! Who's the Batty Girl? Where's the Batty Girl? There's the Batty Girl!" to my cat Bastet when she's up on a shelf or on top of the fridge —*she must be eye level or above — she wiggles her head and body manically and then throws herself down and lolls around, showing her belly and crying out with pure joy.

Any time I create a lap, Batty is on it like white on rice. She's on it right now!

My cat Wee One fetches her toys like a dog. She gets very excited about it.

Wee One also likes to hang out on the tops of doors. She actually chased her tail up on one yesterday. She's a daredevil.

I've mentioned this one before, but Bobo bats his toys around and "catches" them, then carries them around in his mouth and caterwauls and makes guttural noises. Sometimes it sounds like he's saying SO's name and it always makes us giggle. Wee One emulates him sometimes when she fetches her toys, hanging out in the bathroom with them for extended periods, crying out in her high pitched meow.

My foster Eleanor gives love bites on people's fingers, noses, etc., in bed at night or in the morning. It's not to any end, she's fed and watered and content. She's just showing affection.

cmb4314 · 06-06-2012, 12:21 PM

My dog lately has decided that he cannot touch the metal threshold under our front door. And noooo, he can't just jump it normally. He has to take this big dramatic running start and fly over it.

He also will not eat hard dog treats. He loves chewy ones, loves rawhides, and doesn't give us any trouble eating hard food, but wouldn't touch a hard biscuit if you paid him.

He loves bananas, but I've discovered that lately he will only take it from me if it is sufficiently green still. No spotty bananas for him, though I can't fault his taste on his one because I'm just as bad :P. He also forgets, repeatedly, that he doesn't like carrots anymore. He begs and begs for the carrot, crunches it all up, and leaves it sitting on the floor somewhere dying my carpets orange.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using CurlTalk App

spiderlashes5000 · 06-06-2012, 12:44 PM

We have a hamster and when she booboos, she drops about 30 turds all at once.

And when she does this, she pulls the turds out of her butthole w/ her mouth and spits them into the air.

WTF???

In all other ways she is a very nice little animal.

cympreni · 06-06-2012, 01:03 PM

Sasha likes to smell people's noses.

Every time someone gets something to eat, then she needs to eat. It doesn't matter if she just ate a whole can 10 minutes ago, she's starving to death. She's very talkative when she wants food. She sounds so desperate, it so funny.

It's extremely rare for her to get on the couch. If you want to cuddle while watching a movie, forget it. She'll bite and scratch if you even attempt it. I don't know why, she's never been forbidden from the couch.

She does not sleep directly on the floor. She will find something even if it's a tiny scrap of paper to lay on.

She's scared of slippers.

When she's playing, she turns midway through her pounce so that she "falls" on your feet. She will only do it if your wearing pants or socks unless your my husband. If you're wearing both, you're doomed. Every time she hears DH's alarm, she takes off hiding so she can pounce him first thing.

NetG · 06-06-2012, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Springcurl

my cats love visitors, too!

I forgot to add that if you come to visit Linus will INSIST on smelling your breath.

That's how horses introduce themselves, but Tucson is insistent, too. He blows in your face until you back away or blow in his nostrils. He loves when people introduce themselves to him, but if they won't pretty much won't have anything to do with them.

Tucson has recently decided he likes to smell my knees. I think it's because riding pants have patches at the knees and some of mine are leather, some are other materials - but I am more likely to sweat on them so it smells more like me? Andy has started to notice that my knees smell like my horse, so when I come in the house she smells my knees to see if I've been riding.

Cocoa was always funny because she wouldn't make eye contact with me or ask for attention from me. Anyone else she would pester until she drove them crazy asking for attention, but with me she would sit close enough for me to reach her looking away in pure submission. I don't think I ever really had to correct her for anything when I got her, but she just decided I was the boss from the start, which was funny because she had a very dominant personality.

Andy will not play fetch. At least not if she's the one doing the fetching. She used to play with Cocoa by taking the ball in her mouth and tossing it and letting Cocoa fetch. She also used to hide Austin's toys, run back into the tv room and bark at him, then follow to make sure he looked in the right place to find them.

Will Feral is a super sound sleeper and since he's a kitten still needs more sleep, so if Trouble goes away while he's asleep he runs out with a super loud crying "MEOW!" to try to get attention or a response from her. If I'm in the barn and he finds me there while waiting for her, he is all over me for attention, despite his normal insistence that he's wild at all times besides when hungry.

Tucson used to always be interested in whatever humans had. He loved sharing frou frou coffee drinks with me, loved sharing other people's soda, whatever. Then one day he tried chai. After that he smelled drinks and refused anything else. I have shared Starbucks with him while he's been at my trainer's because the closest one to my house is 15 or so miles so I don't usually go! He remembers his routine - he tips the cup up to see if any will pour out into his mouth, then hands it back to me to hold, and he methodically licks around the edge as far down as he can get, bites the cup until he tears it down (I usually help here since I'd rather he not eat paper cups), then licks again until he is at the bottom and finishes it.

Springcurl · 06-06-2012, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NetG

Quote:

Originally Posted by Springcurl

my cats love visitors, too!

I forgot to add that if you come to visit Linus will INSIST on smelling your breath.

That's how horses introduce themselves, but Tucson is insistent, too. He blows in your face until you back away or blow in his nostrils. He loves when people introduce themselves to him, but if they won't pretty much won't have anything to do with them.

Tucson has recently decided he likes to smell my knees. I think it's because riding pants have patches at the knees and some of mine are leather, some are other materials - but I am more likely to sweat on them so it smells more like me? Andy has started to notice that my knees smell like my horse, so when I come in the house she smells my knees to see if I've been riding.

Cocoa was always funny because she wouldn't make eye contact with me or ask for attention from me. Anyone else she would pester until she drove them crazy asking for attention, but with me she would sit close enough for me to reach her looking away in pure submission. I don't think I ever really had to correct her for anything when I got her, but she just decided I was the boss from the start, which was funny because she had a very dominant personality.

Andy will not play fetch. At least not if she's the one doing the fetching. She used to play with Cocoa by taking the ball in her mouth and tossing it and letting Cocoa fetch. She also used to hide Austin's toys, run back into the tv room and bark at him, then follow to make sure he looked in the right place to find them.

Will Feral is a super sound sleeper and since he's a kitten still needs more sleep, so if Trouble goes away while he's asleep he runs out with a super loud crying "MEOW!" to try to get attention or a response from her. If I'm in the barn and he finds me there while waiting for her, he is all over me for attention, despite his normal insistence that he's wild at all times besides when hungry.

Tucson used to always be interested in whatever humans had. He loved sharing frou frou coffee drinks with me, loved sharing other people's soda, whatever. Then one day he tried chai. After that he smelled drinks and refused anything else. I have shared Starbucks with him while he's been at my trainer's because the closest one to my house is 15 or so miles so I don't usually go! He remembers his routine - he tips the cup up to see if any will pour out into his mouth, then hands it back to me to hold, and he methodically licks around the edge as far down as he can get, bites the cup until he tears it down (I usually help here since I'd rather he not eat paper cups), then licks again until he is at the bottom and finishes it.

Your horsey is funny!