The Mutt Did What??? (or) Pet Peeves and Pleasures

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

By now, some of you know that I have a half wolf hybrid named Zen.

Normally, he is never fed meals inside the house. Treats are all that he ever receives indoors. Please bear in mind that Zen (true to wolf fashion) is an omnivore. Cantaloupe rinds? Corn cobs? Apple cores? All of these he eats willingly (outdoors). What mutt worth its fur won’t eat the slightest thing from a human table? Nonetheless, I just fed this little guy;

[li]Cooked summer squash[/li]
[li]Cooked broccoli stems[/li]
[li]Cooked okra*[/li]Zen’s predecessor (Bear Dog) was part coyote (according to legend) and ate broccoli stems, corn cobs, bananas and most everything, but Zen… chawing OKRA…???

This little dude is way cool.

  • OKRA? Not even Paloma would eat the okra (smart gal!). Zen munched it solely to deprive her of it. Yeah, he choked it down just so his mating bitch wouldn’t get at it, but still, it was astounding!
    Now on with our regularly scheduled thread:
    Pet Peeves and Pet Pleasures

What do your pets do that endear them to you or piss you off?

The cast of characters:

Zen is a three year old male white wolf hybrid and Piewacket is a three year old white tabby splotched tomcat. Paloma is four years old and is Zen’s breeding bitch on semi permanent loan until she gets knocked up. She is probably a white Aussie shep mix.

[li]If I leave my clothes on the floor Zen will sleep on them. This used to piss me off until I realized that he is just showing his loyalty to me. This is probably an ancient habit of animals to keep themselves warm and to have their master’s clothes warm in the morning. It also reminds me to pick up my clothes.[/li]
[li]Zen will lie in the path where I need to walk to the bathroom at night. Again, this used to tick me off until I realized that he does it to monitor any nighttime activity.[/li]
[li]Zen will lie at my feet when I am online or working. I have always enjoyed this demonstration of loyalty upon his part.[/li]
[li] When I am resting, Zen knows that the best way to get some strokes from me is to come over and place his chin on the edge of the bed. This is so cute that it is hard to resist. If I am able to resist, he goes to the next level and will sit down and place only his forepaws on the bed to let me know that he really is in the mood for some strokes.[/li]
[li]After prolonged effort Zen is finally learning to sneeze on command (Bear Dog did this all of his life). Zen is also picking up on the idea that pointing at him means to calm down. The final breakthrough has been for him to learn that a finger snap is a negative modifier. When I snap my fingers, he now knows to take whatever he is doing down one notch for each time I do it. If I snap my fingers enough times he ends up laying down with his chin on the floor in his “sleep” position.[/li]
[li]Zen makes me very proud when he plays with Paloma in the back yard. Every so often, he will lay down and allow Paloma to beat him up entirely. This assures me that he is a healthy Alpha male, in that he allows his mate to assume the Alpha role as well.[/li]
[li]On one occasion, Zen was present while Paloma was bullying (she’s a jealous bitch…) another neighborhood dog that showed interest in her. After way too much agression on Paloma’s part, Zen leaned in and warded off Paloma from causing any further harassment. My neighbors exclaimed, “But isn’t Zen part wolf?”. I retorted, “Yeah, but he’s trained and she’s not!” It was very gratifying to see Zen earn his stripes that day.[/li]And now for the cat:

[li]Piewacket used to jump on and off of the bed repeatedly to let me know that he wanted out in the middle of the night. This was a big problem until last summer. During the hot months the mutts slept outside in the back yard. If he ticked me off enough he was thrown out the back door where he had to run the gantlet with the hounds. For some reason he now stays quiet until the morning when I begin to stir.[/li]
[li]Piwacket would routinely want to go out ten times a day. I finally made him understand that he is more likely to have his wishes met if he comes over to me and is affectionate than if he just wanders around and yowls.[/li]
[li]In this same vein, if Piewacket wants out too many times in a row, when he is next let out I open the front door only a crack so that he has to squeeze his way out. I figure if I’m going to suffer, he’d better too.[/li]
[li]If Piewacket demonstrates the least hesitation about coming inside when he is being let in, the door is abruptly closed and he has to wait until I feel like letting him in.[/li]
[li]Piewacket totally cracks me up by jumping up into the bath tub and rolling against the sloped sides of it to flip his body over.[/li]
[li]Paloma arrived completely untrained and with a somewhat nervous disposition. She has a tendency to lick your hand or face whether you like it or not. To discourage her I have had to tap her on the snout until she realizes that she will not get any strokes until she stops licking.[/li]
Stopping Paloma from jumping up on your person required more harsh measures. I had to donkey kick at her a few times before she figured out that running up behind someone and jumping up on them was verboten. With lots of affection and consistent discipline she is mellowing out a little.

2

Zenster,

  How big are your hybrids? The ones I've seen on documentaries tend to be huge. I know they're illegal in a lot of areas, like near me, so I haven't seen them in person. About as close as we come are German Shepherds, of which I have one.
3

My dogs Coco (a mutt) and Tigger (a fox terrier).

Coco was so spoiled that she would not eat any left-over pancakes unless they were buttered. (No shit.) She’s since grown out of that once she realized I was not going to butter the pancake I just tossed in her food bowl.

If I’m laying on the couch with my hand hanging off the edge, Coco will walk up and nudge my hand to the top of her head. She does this regardless if I pet her or not, she just likes my hand on her head for some reason.

I used to love teasing Coco, holding out food and tell her to do a trick. She would raise her paw to shake hands, I tell her I didn’t like it and do another trick. She would then roll over or sit up. I would keep telling her to do another trick until she went through all the tricks she knows. My friends were amazed at how smart she seemed, going through her retinue of tricks one at a time without me having to specifically name a trick. Now that she’s gone deaf, however, she just looks at me when I tell her to do a trick.

Tigger I never liked as much as Coco (Coke is my dog, my parents bought Tigger just beofre I went to the Air Force to keep Coke company). What I do like about Tigger though is her fear of thunder. Whenever there’s a thunderstorm, she freaks out and has to be near me. Sometimes she would sit outside my door and cry until I let her in. This bugged me at first until I realized she was just afraid and this was a way of showing me that she trusted me.

4

I can’t go into all the animals I have or we would be here all day. Here is my current peeve, though.

I ran out of moist cat food, and my darling, precious, queen kitty “Pebbles” had to have dry food this morning. This is simply not acceptabe. So she’s walking around all morning wailing- you know that sound. The desparate, loud meow of a cat that feels slighted. (This is actually my husbands cat, and she’s so goddamned spoiled it’s sickening).

So Pebbles is walking around howling, and my African Grey parrot (Ringo) is yelling “PEBBLES! PEBBLES! <doggie whistle> PEEEEEEBLES! HERE BOY!” (he doesn’t know gender, I guess), to which she is replying “YEEOWW! YEEOW!” over and over.

This has been going on for about 2 hours now. This is not good for my mental health.

I’m getting the hell out of here and going to the library before I kill one or both of them and cook 'em for dinner.

Zette

5

Moody is a siamese/calico mix female kitty.
Shilla is an almost pure black male kitty.

Yesterday, while I was getting ready for supper, I kept hearing this pitiful kitty meowing. I didn’t think much of this cause it usually means “Where are you?” and I was talking back to her. Then I saw a little white nose under the coat closet door. Moody had gotten in the coat closet when I had gotten my coat that morning and had been stuck there all day.

A little while later when I went to put up my coat, she ran back into the closet. :rolleyes: Didn’t learn your lesson, did you?

When Moody wants cuddling, she goes to the wall nearest to me and stretches as high as she can. This is my cue to pick her up and cuddle.

When Shilla wants to be petted, he gets near me and rolls onto his back. This isn’t just a flop - he twists his head to place the back of his neck on the floor, then rolls his back onto the floor. Sometimes when he isn’t sure if he wants petting he will lean over and start to put his head down, then change his mind. I have seen him do a somersault as well (where his tail ended up pointing in the opposite direction it started.)

6

Zenster, I gotta hand it to ya: I completely disagree with humans keeping wolf hybrids as pets, but you sound like a great dog trainer and responsible owner, so I will now reconsider my position on this and recognize that not all hybrid wolf owners are neglectful.

Having said that, you might even be able to offer some advice about my pet pet peeves!

  • Dogillza (IRL) is very mouthy. I think it’s a result of separation anxiety, but I’m not sure how to make her quit. She licks wet spots into everything, has very little fur on her paws from licking them and jumps up on people to nip at and lick them. Very annoying, to me and my guests. Her biggest irritating habit: jumping on people when they walk in. I kick her off me, but guests hesitate to kick my dog in front of me, even though I ask them to. How to you get guests to help you by reinforcing your training?

  • The cats, who are spoiled rotten have a very bad scratching habit and have destroyed my couches. I spray them with water, give them other things to scratch, boot them off the couch when they’re scratching… I’m sure they do it when I’m not home, so they don’t care about my protests when I am. I refuse to declaw them since the Dogzilla (IRL) likes to pounce on them and roll them around the house. They need defense systems!

7

Pixel, my dalmatian, has figured out how to open the back door - if I could just teach her how to close it. She’s also terrified of thunder, and she’ll crawl into the knee hole under my desk if I’m at the computer when a storm comes thru.

Bernie, the border collie/something else mutt, HAS to be under foot. We have an island in the kitchen, and Bernie prefers to lie between the island and the stove, which is, of course, in the path of everything I would want to do in the kitchen. She’ll also put a paw on my leg if she wants to be petted, making goo-goo eyes all the while.

8

My princess Katy, is a 5 year old shih-tzu. She know she has me in control. When I was living in my parents house I had her and the “other” dog (lhaso apso?) sleep in my bed at night. My parents would come in to see katy had my pillow and stretched across the top half of the bed, and Gennie had the bottom half. I would be pressed up against the wall on my twin curled in a ball because the dogs pushed me away at night.

Katy only eats one type of dog food, Science Diet Puppy. She of course has to starve herself if I get one less expensive.

Katy WILL NOT go outside in the rain. She will hold her bladder for days at a time if we can’t find a completely dry spot for her to roam around sniff. This is hazerdous since we live in Florida and it rains for days at a time. This preference also applies to dew in the morning.

Katy sits on window sills. It doesn’t matter where the windowsill is or how high it is. She will find a way to get on it. She climbs over tables, beds, couches, anything. She will drive you crazy at night if you can’t find her a window sill to sit on at night in your bedroom.

Luckily since I’ve been living with my husband, he has put his foot down about her hogging the bed. She now only hogs my side and I sleep on my husbands -sigh-

9

I have two dogs: Buster (Fox Terrier mix, 2 years old) and Fluffy (Cocker Spaniel mix, 11 years old).

Buster is rather timid, while Fluffy is kind of laid back. They have one learned behavior that cracks me up (well, actually, it’s two, but…). Whenever my wristwatch alarm goes off, the dogs react in one of two ways, depending on what time it is. If it’s early afternoon, they run into the kitchen to be let outside (it’s time for me to go to work, and they know it’s time for them to go outside). Any other time, they run into the room I’m in, then run back out, then back in, then out, until I follow them into the kitchen. If it isn’t time to go to work, that sound signifies that something is ready to eat. They have the same reaction, but even more frantic (because they’re certain it’s food-related) whenever the bell for the microwave or the toaster oven goes off.

~~Baloo

10

Mine is Shiva. 5 years, Blue-tick Heeler/Australian shepherd Mix, around 55 lbs. She is an absolute doll, with more personality than most dates I’ve had.

I adopted her from a rescue animal shelter years ago and she’s still quirky about new people, especially men. With chicks, she’s usually okay, but if a man (especially one that hasn’t been around dogs enough to sense she’s immediately on guard) approaches her quickly, she goes submissive. i.e. pees on the floor. Sigh. She was apparently being beaten by a guy when the shelter rescued her, so it’s understandable, but she’s gotten SO MUCH better with people in general, I wish she’d get over this last thing. Once she knows you, she loves you forever, though.

Like Tuba’s Katy, Shiva HATES the rain. Funny, but that’s what got me on this thread; it’s raining today. Shiva reminds me of the cat in Door Into Summer. We’ll go to a door, she’ll stand in it, then walk back in. Another door, stand in it, walk back in. Do the pee dance. Go to a door. Repeat until I’m insane.

She’s smart enough to get food from anywhere. I’ve seen her get food from off a plate in a sink that she can’t reach. From on top of the MICROWAVE by way of leaning WAY over from the staircase and batting it off. I assume on the last one, I wasn’t here to see it. She knows how to figure out the garbage can and open tupperware. Drives me batshit.

On the plus side, whenever we go for a walk, she “herds” me. Cutest damn thing. If I let her sleep on the bed, she spoons. (Easy oldscratch. That’s not a “Yes.”) Whenever she’s “bad” she knows it and immediately slinks off. Never need to correct her. Other assorted good/cute things, but it’s time to go do the Dance of the Doors again.

11

“I adopted her from a rescue animal shelter years ago and she’s still quirky about new people, especially men. With chicks, she’s usually okay, but if a man . . . approaches her quickly, she goes submissive. i.e. pees on the floor”

Ohhh - that beaks my heart. I used to voluteer with animals, rehabilitating abused animals in hopes they would get over their fear of people. Sometimes the memories of the abuse are so ingrained though they never get over it. Maybe if you explained to the guy before he gets too near the dog about the situation. Also suggest he not reach out to pet the dog’s head, since that’s an act of dominance. Instead, ask them to reach out, slowly, palm up and pet under the chin of the dog. This is a less threatening gesture as you are not around the animal’s throat nor are you asserting your dominance by placing your hand on the top of the head. You are also letting the dog be a little dominant in this situation since they can bite your hand if they feel threatened - so if you think Shiva may be scared enough to bite a man, don’t suggest this. If the dog accepts this, slowly pet the dog, moving your hand towards the ears and then over to the top of the dog’s head. This way, the dog has allowed you to be dominant instead of you forcing dominance on the dog. It also helps build trust with the animal from the get-go (Dog doesn’t bite and you don’t hurt it) Just remember, tell the guy to move slowly, speak quietly, calmly, and soothingly, and don’t smile - showing teeth is an act of aggression.

Good for you for getting an animal from a shelter, IMO they’re the best ones.

12

Trust me, Crunchy, I do tell them to not approach her. Men being men, a lot of them don’t listen. I usually tell them to just ignore her. When she gets comfortable having them around, she’ll go up to them. If they listen to me, she always does approach them within five minutes, usually just walking right up and putting her head in their lap. She’s a real sweetheard, just a little skittish sometimes.

13

Trust me, Crunchy, I do tell them to not approach her. Men being men, a lot of them don’t listen. I usually tell them to just ignore her. When she gets comfortable having them around, she’ll go up to them. If they listen to me, she always does approach them within five minutes, usually just walking right up and putting her head in their lap. She’s a real sweetheart, just a little skittish sometimes.

14

Damn it. Shot my load twice again. I’m getting good at that.

15

I, as Nym’s roommie, can attest to both of these statements, although if you count peeing on the floor as “personality,” the last statement isn’t necessarily true. :wink:

I was one of the men she was “quirky” around. She was constantly herding me into one corner or another, and nipping at me. About 2 months after we started living together, though, apparently a switch flipped in her brain, and she’s been FANTASTIC ever since.

Of course, sometimes she plays a little more… umm… vehemently than I might expect, and that generally leads to confusion and hurt feelings. There’s nothing like saying “down” and having another being utterly COLLAPSE to the floor and assume a totally subordinate stance. Maybe I was born to be a dominatrix…dominator? What is the male version of that?

Yeah, I think about the weirdest thing I’ve seen evidence of her eating is two tupperware cannisters of dry, uncooked pasta. I think that by the time she went through all the effort of getting the things open, she just ate the contents out of spite.

On the whole, she is an INCREDIBLY affectionate dog, and Nym isn’t just kidding about the spooning. She provided me with vast moral support while I was the sickest I ever remember being in a hotel room in St. Louis… which is another story for another thread.

mm

16

**Picture a half size 60 pound white Arctic wolf and you have a mental image of Zen. This guy is a fabulous little weasle.
[/QUOTE]
**Having said that, you might even be able to offer some advice about my pet pet peeves!

**If necessary, hold her muzzle shut AND apply strokes to her head to let her know that she will be rewarded without any need for licking. As with Paloma, when she attempts to come up and lick you, gently tap her on the snout. This is tricky, you must do it so quickly that the animal has no chance to lick you. You sneak in under radar and lightly admonish the negative behavior. The animal realizes that it is being rendered vulnerable without harm coming to it. This pattern of domination eventually instructs the critter to quit with the washrag act.

As to the jumping up routine. Next time you can, grab both of her paws and “dance” with her until she is uncomfprtable and pulls away from you. This action must not be fun! Always do this consistently when it occurs. If it continues then give her a good poke in the ribs with your foot whenever she jumps up. I prefer the dancing action as it gives them too much of a good thing and the fun factor slowly inverts over to annoyance for the animal.

As to the licking of the paws, try giving her a cow hoof or a rawhide chew twist (avoid the squares that can plug up their innards) to chomp on. This oral task will distract her from the nervous activity of licking her paws. You may need to resort to applying some ill flavored compound to her paws to enforce the negative aspect of this behavior.

One of the best threats to apply to an animal is to throw something at them. They are totally astounded by the attacking/flying/threatening shoe/cheap paperback/rolled up sock. The benefit of this is that they do not directly associate you with the punishment. You may need to get a clawing post for the kitties to have some natural outlet. Take them up and dig their claws into it and give them strokes to encourage the desireable behavior. You may wish to try one of the cheapo cardboard models before springing for a ritzy carpet covered post type of scratching tree.

PS: Zen and Piewacket play too. It is hilarious to watch my cat grab Zen’s head and chomp him one. Sadly, Zen thinks that cat turds are breath mints, but we’ll save that for another post.

17

Zenster, I’ve been cudgelling my brains, but I’m not boasting when I say that my puggers have no annoying habits. Of course, they are 11 and 12 years old and pretty placid, but even when they were young they weren’t hyper or aggravating. I’ve always found them cooperative and easy to train. I don’t mean to paint them as uninteresting; they are funny as clowns and will do anything to center attention on themselves. Can you tell I love pugs?

However, one thing gets on my nerves. They can tell with deadly accuracy just when our finances can’t stand a large vet bill. Christmastime? Just the time to get a major eye infection. Two days before vacation? Time to develop a chronic cough necessitating x-rays and ultrasound. One of our former pugs was named Ching-ching, and I used to joke that that was the sound the vet’s cash register made when they saw her coming. [semi hijack: The puglet who had the ultrasound a few weeks ago does not have cancer, but does have the condition of collapsing trachea. Not a good thing, but way better than cancer.]

Oh yeah, and I just thought of another. Pugs shed like a flock of Persian cats. Two little dogs create enough fluff to make a whole new pug every week or so. All of our furniture and carpeting is sort of a fawn beige in order to mask the hair everywhere. I don’t care, though. I love my puggies too much to worry about vacuuming up a little fluff.

Good subject, Zenster. Everyone will want to contribute stories about their furry kids.

18

Zenster, I’ve been cudgelling my brains, but I’m not boasting when I say that my puggers have no annoying habits. Of course, they are 11 and 12 years old and pretty placid, but even when they were young they weren’t hyper or aggravating. I’ve always found them cooperative and easy to train. I don’t mean to paint them as uninteresting; they are funny as clowns and will do anything to center attention on themselves. Can you tell I love pugs?

However, one thing gets on my nerves. They can tell with deadly accuracy just when our finances can’t stand a large vet bill. Christmastime? Just the time to get a major eye infection. Two days before vacation? Time to develop a chronic cough necessitating x-rays and ultrasound. One of our former pugs was named Ching-ching, and I used to joke that that was the sound the vet’s cash register made when they saw her coming. [semi hijack: The puglet who had the ultrasound a few weeks ago does not have cancer, but does have the condition of collapsing trachea. Not a good thing, but way better than cancer.]

Oh yeah, and I just thought of another. Pugs shed like a flock of Persian cats. Two little dogs create enough fluff to make a whole new pug every week or so. All of our furniture and carpeting is sort of a fawn beige in order to mask the hair everywhere. I don’t care, though. I love my puggies too much to worry about vacuuming up a little fluff.

Good subject, Zenster. Everyone will want to contribute stories about their furry kids.

19

Pugluvr, please check in at this thread.

[/shameless auto-hijack]

20

Muttley the Wonder Dog is my purebred damnation. Ooops, I mean Dalmatian. Also, I think the breeder said “purebred”, but in retrospect it’s entirely possible that it was “inbred”.

Anyway, when I absolutely can’t avoid it I sometimes let him ride in the car with me. One time, as I was driving up a long (about 2 miles) hill, he thought that a really funny practical joke to play on me would be to lean over while I wasn’t looking and throw my (rather new, not real cheap) car into neutral. I coasted nearly to a stop on the side of the freeway, the whole time watching in my rear-view mirror and expecting to see my transmission, before I figured it out.

Hopefully that’s funny. I’m not real sure now. Submitting anyway…