I have a 3.5 month old puppy, a Jackabee - half Jack Russell, half Beagle.
I know the rules. (We had to get him the outfit because he gets cold in the mornings when he goes with MrPanda to escort PandaKid to the bus stop.)
I’ve never had a dog before and never really was around dogs growing up so this has been a big learning experience for me. For example, I had no idea dogs truly had emotions until I saw him crying because he got in trouble – all this time I just thought dog owners were um, nuts.
Since he’s half Beagle he wants to sniff everything. What surprises me is his complete lack of interest in anything that can’t be sniffed. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what he hears unless it’s the sound of the puppy chow bag rattling around.
I’ve played the Beneful commercial for dogs for him – he doesn’t even pause. I’ve played freaky videos with lots of colors and stuff to see if that was his thing … nope. If he’s not in play mode he doesn’t mind being petted, but he doesn’t actively seek out pettins. If you wanna pet him, cool, if not, whatevs.
He can take or leave belly rubs, too - WTF? Isn’t there a little doggy chromosome that wires them to want belly rubs?
My older dog, a female Collie/Beagle mix named Macy has always carried her food in her mouth from her bowl in the utility room to a spot in the adjacent kitchen about ten feet away from the bowl, drops the kibbles on the floor and then eats them little by little.
When we got Rusty, a Chabrador shelter rescue, she taught him to do it too, and now they both do it. Its pretty funny watching them bump into each other in the hall of the utility room as one is bringing a mouthful of food into the kitchen while the other is returning to their bowl to get more.
What kinda sucks is the mess of crumbs mixed with doggy slobber they can sometimes leave behind.
I had a Jack Russell growing up. As is characteristic of the breed, every now and then she would just go tear-assing around the house at full speed for a few minutes for no apparent reason. I suppose she was just letting off pent-up energy or something, but it was quite amusing (to me, at least; my mother was not amused).
Ah, a fun thread to help keep my mind off other things! And with 5 dogs currently, I could fill volumes!
My Papillon Bunny http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/PapSett/My%20Babies/TheBuns.jpg is quite possibly the weirdest little dog I have ever met. She keeps me constantly entertained with her antics. Bunny is a ‘collector’… she has her own little stash pile where she keeps stuffies and chewies, and anything else she finds and thinks might be useful somehow. Most recently, she added my checkbook and a ten dollar bill to the pile (I am left wondering what she wanted to buy…). She never chews the stuff, just collects it.
Another Papillon, Cricket http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/PapSett/My%20Babies/Cricket.jpg has earned the nick-name Diva Dog. She is, shall we say, a bit breedist? She likes other Papillons. Only. That’s it. Other Papillons she will play with, hang out with, snuggle with. Let a dog of another breed touch her, or God forbid, look at her, and they will feel Cricket’s wrath!
Sammy http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/PapSett/My%20Babies/016.jpg is a Rat Terrier that I found as a stray. he and Bunny are like… permanantly attached at the hip. Sammy is a worrier, and does this little oooh-oooh-oooh whine. I swear he sounds like Arnold Horshack.
Kharma http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/PapSett/My%20Babies/Kharma.jpg is my current Gordon Setter girl. She is smart…scary smart. I swear to you, she tries to talk. We hold ‘conversations’… I will just chat with her endlessly, and when I pause, she will answer with a series of woo-woo-woos, usually with the same intonation and similar number of syllables! By using her talent for imitating, I have taught Kharma to say ‘I love you’… and she says it clearly enough that people on the phone can understand her. She also learned on her own how to say NO… and use it ion context. Me: “Kharma, doo you need to go potty?” Kharma: “NOOOOOO!” Me: “C’mon Kharma, you haven’t been out for a whole!” Kharma: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Last but not least is Gordon Setter boy Nick http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/PapSett/Nick%20of%20Time/089.jpg who is a silly, big ol’ goober boy. His most endearng thing he does is how he ‘sings’ when I kiss his cheek. He has done it ever since he was a puppy; I’ll put my arms around him and kiss his cheek loudly, making smacking, kissy noises and say “I love you Nicky!”. He will close his eyes and start making these grumbly growl/whimpers, soft at first, but get louder and louder, his tail doing double-time.
Here’s Rusty the Chabrador, winking at you (if you look you can see Macy The Nervous behind him…they both like hanging out under the table, especially when my young sons are eating…I can’t imagine why!): http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp360/sgenetti77/Rusty008.jpg
Thank you! She is really a very good girl, and silly is the best word to describe her. Very vocal… not BARKY, but woo-woo-wooing at me all the time. Ever heard a dog woo-woo with a stuffie in their mouth?
My dog, a Jack Russell/Parson Russell, is usually extremely friendly. But sometimes she goes to her little nest under the sofa and lies there growling ad snapping viciously at anyone whose feet go near. I’m the only one who can get her out peacefully.
She’s not particularly fond of sticks overall - she’s gradually come to accept that the mop is not her enemy, but she’s wary - but she hates, with the heat of a thousand suns, our wheely suitcases. She reacts to them like they’re the devil on wheels.
She also often does her poos in really odd places, balancing on something so that her arse is higher than her head.
When you throw a ball for her, she doesn’t bring it to you - she throws it herself and runs after it, repeatedly.
If it snows, she runs up to the top of the tiny hillock in the park and slides down on her bum.
The only soft toys she goes for are cuddly dogs.
She gets on very well with the cat; they love to playfight, and somtimes the dog will fall asleep with the cat’s head in her mouth.
My dog is totally neurotic - and has an unhealthy emotional dependence on me. God help him, he has the potential to turn into a total ‘greyrfiar’s bobby’ kind of dog, og forbid that I should ever die in his lifetime…he might try to linger at my grave forever!
He loves going for walks and I used to walk him daily for about a mile, twice a day. Unfortunately he won’t let anyone else take him for this walk - it has to be me or he won’t go! Once, my brother tried to walk him and he slipped his collar and ran back, beating my brother home by several minutes!
But I broke my ankle on xmas eve and since that time, he has had no walks! Poor little guy, he misses it so much and he just can’t understand why I don’t walk him anymore. We used to love our winter walks in the snow…
Hopefully, I will be able to start walking like a normal human being within the next month or so - because now he is developing nervous tics like snapping at imaginary insects in the air.
I love my dog, but I just don’t know how he became so dependent on me - he is very affectionate and friendly with everyone else, he just won’t let anyone else do anything for him! (Oh, okay - he did adjust to my brother feeding him - but he wasn’t happy about it and insisted that I had to be the one to let him outside to poop!) So, as long as I am the one who opens the door for him to take care of his ‘business’, he has avoided terminal constipation…
We had a bulldog puppy growing up. It wasn’t weird, but it was adorable as hell that when the family came back home after leaving him alone for the first time, he had gone around to all our closets and brought back a single shoe from each, and was lying among them when we walked in.
My sister had a lone female Shih Tzu (she is pretty big for a Shih Tzu), but a few years ago got her daughter (my niece) her own Shih Tzu, a mini- in fact. Well, when the female noticed the male lifting his leg to go pee, she started lifting her leg too! After some initial jealousy she warmed up to him and they’re thick as thieves now.
Bandit, leader of the Pack is the smartest and also a diebetic. He does lots of things, like bring his lease for a walk, plopping his bowl in my lap if he is hungry and can stay on his hind legs for a really long time watching us shoot pool.
Carrie, Mother of the pack, hates all TV dogs. If she sees them, hears them or hears someone whistle for one, she barks at the TV. She disciplines her pups by grabbing their nose with her teeth.
Hercules, number one pup, probably the largest Jack in the world, weighs in at 52 lbs and stands twice as tall as any other Jack I have ever seen. Likes pilloows and stepping on frongs to make them jump.
Blaze, almost as big as his brother at 48 lbs and two inches shorter, jumps into the arms of anyone that is ready or not. Catches balls and hands them to his dad for return to me. Super lizard killer
Jessie, barks at everything, the only one that can be called a barker. She barks at everyone but me when they enter a room, loves chasing the pool bot.
Katy, super model, prettiest Jack I have ever seen with the highest jump of any dog I have ever owned, jumps over and onto things all day long.
Bela, shy, always last to do anything and the only one to ever bite. She bit the trainer when we were teaching them all manners when he turned his back on her. Loves her dad and the only one allowed to eat from his bowl. Can balance on an exercise ball.
I told this in the thread about my dog getting cataract surgery - but it is one of the weirder things she does:
Whoever owned her before taught her a weird habit. When I get home, I have to throw the ball, she goes and finds it and then she pees. She won’t pee until she finds the ball. (at all other times she’ll pee without throwing the ball.)
When she was blind, I cursed that person several times, because when I got home in the rain, I would throw the ball, she would go look for it, but being blind, couldn’t spot it - and remember, she won’t pee until she does. So then I have to walk down, and help her find it.
Actually, that isn’t quite good enough, I have to toss it so she can find it herself. I always ended up soaked on a rainy day. By then, I’d be wet and muddy and so what the hell, there I’d be playing ball with my poor blind dog in the rain.
Now she sees well enough to grab the ball out of the air on the first bounce!
The Terrible Iggy Dammit is our 1 year old half rat terrier half everything else. He is so damn cute! He loves to sleep under the covers. In the case in the link, he had been all the way under and I got out of bed. He totally stole my spot, and my pillow. His best friend is Spot (a spot of light that shows up when something reflects the sun) and he knows when Spot is most likely to show up because he’ll go stand in the only sunny part of our house and search for Spot. He also squeaks, which is so adorable that it breaks my heart to hear it.
Ginger (right) and Holly (left) our sweet sisters. They are approaching 2.5 years old. We were told they were GSD’s. As you can see, they’re not. We suspect they’re about 25% Carolina Dog and about 75% everything else. Holly has moments when she totally looks like a dingo. Ginger just looks like a dog - but a very pretty and skinny dog). Ginger is most happy when she is leaning up against a human, especially if that human puts their arm around her. She is the queen of the house (I swear she outranks me) and Iggy and Holly are in constant combat to be her right-hand-dog. She has a blast running obstacle courses but she is also completely independent-minded and will only do what we ask if she wants to. I can sometimes see calculations going in her beady little eyes as she decides if it’s worth it to her to sit when I tell her to. ginger is the most independent of our dogs. While she loves to snuggle with us, she most likely to also ignore us for a whole day. She is perfectly happy perching on the back of the couch like a cat, watching the world pass by.
Holly, on the other hand, lives to please us. She is the most co-dependent dog I’ve ever met. We can’t leave her home alone and we can’t leave her home with just Iggy. As long as a human or Ginger is with her, she’s totally ok. She hates agility and it’s obvious that she only runs the course because she knows we want her to. She loves being in the car but her stomach doesn’t. She gets violently ill no matter what precautions we take. Her arch-nemesis is Spot and while Iggy is gleefully chasing spot around the dining room and kitchen, Holly runs after them both barking like a maniac, trying to scare Spot away. She hasn’t figured out yet that 90% of the time, Spot is being created by the light reflecting off her own tags. I have occasionally had to take her collar off to stop the insanity. Holly is the only dog we trust completely to not destroy our house. She LOVES to lick my boyfriend’s head, particularly when he’s due to shave it again.
I grew up around dogs, but the thing that really caught me off guard about our corgi is how differently he reacts to my wife and me.
He plays totally different sets of games with us. For me, it’s always playing fetch or chasing after me. For her, it’s always being chased BY her or playing tug. He also picks up toys from the floor, drops them in her lap, and stares at her until she plays with him. He’s never done it with me.
The other uexpected thing: despite a big collection of fancy toys, his absolute favorite toy in the world is a cheap rubber squeaker shoved into the toe of an old sock. He will carry said squeaky socks around with him, guard them like protectively, and will vigorously shake them from the floppy end so he repeatedly whacks himself in the head with the squaker.
