Loki the Siamese always has to be the center of attention.
No matter what you’re doing, he has to be a part of it.
If you’re doing work at the desk - that is Loki’s signal to: a. investigate and then b. sabotage the whole affair. This usually consists of him plopping himself right, smack down on the book, newspaper, etc. you are examining.
The usual reaction on my, or the GF’s part, is to pick said Siamese up and set him right back down on the floor. His reaction is to hop right back up on the desk and defiantly re-position himself right back where he was a second ago – before he was so rudely dismissed.
Usually there is another go around with re-depositing him on the floor and then his little wheels start turning.
Loki will then jump back on the desk and then -this has to be seen to be truly appreciated- move in s-l-o-o-o-o-w motion and sort of stealthily creep right back on top of the book, newspaper, stack of bills etc.
The funny thing is that he has learned that this actually works.
Since it is simply too charming to resist… we actually have to let him have his way. And since he knows he can somehow make himself invisible with this little trick, he uses it at his whim.
Ruby is a Jack Russell who is like a little person. She is incredibly well trained, definitely knowing right from wrong.
Other than regular dog food, she eats any vegetable, carrotts being her favourite. You can put a piece of meat or anything else down for her and she won’t touch it until you say “okay”. She knows when she is in shit cuz as soon as you say “what did you do?” she high tails it to her bed. There is an invisible line as you come into the kitchen and she knows she can’t be past that line once we are sitting down to eat, so she just lies on the line and watches.
On a number of occasions, I’ve gone looking for her and found her curled up in the dryer. It seems thats a safe and warm place to be.
She’s about as human a dog as I’ve ever seen. She’s freaking hilarious.
One of my cockatiels like to “talk” to feet. Not hands, or any other body part. Just feet. He doesn’t actually talk, but makes a series odd chattering noises and whistles. To feet.
He also does this to things like towels, handkerchiefs and napkins. Especially if they are moving (waving a handkerchief in front of him will entertain him for hours). He will, on occasion, pick up a paper towel and fling it as far as he can (which is, admittedly, not very far), then, because it moved, start talking to it.
That our new cat lives at all is pretty quirky…given my complete disdain for the creature. It’s survived a WEEK already…must be a record worthy of Mr. Guinness et al (the record book, not the brewer).
Our Tahoe (a whippet, like a mini greyhound) often has bad dreams. His feet will twitch madly, he’ll howl a little, and upon occasion, fart in fear; usually a soothing voice and patting seems to make it all better. He also likes to sleep half on top of you, between your legs when you lie lengthwise on the couch.
One day, when my fiancé and he were having a boy’s day in, lounging on the couch with the history channel on, I came home and Tahoe bounced over to greet me.
“Just until a minute ago he was sleeping under the blanket with me,” said my handsome man, as I came over to kiss him, “but he had a bad dream and farted, and it was really bad, so I think the stench woke him up.” I kissed him and agreed that yes, it must have been a nasty fart indeed since when my darling shifted, a stink still wafted up from the woobie (what we call a blanket in this house). A few minutes later, I heard him yodel, “oh my god, ugh!” I guess, wondering why the fart still smelled and getting sick of it, he’d gone to get up, pulled back the woobie, and found a bit of poo nestled between his legs. I still feel guilty for the fleeting thought that it was his. Anyway, long story shortened, the quirky thing our dog did was have such a bad dream that he shat himself, while laying on my fiancés lap under a blanket. The poor dog looked so ashamed when Nick found it. Pobrecíto.
My cat, Feather, is the Amusement Park enthusiast of cats. She loves to be spun around on top of the red velvet plush chair (doesn’t everyone have one of those?), and likes to go for rides in the laundry basket. She just hankers right down and meows for more when you stop swinging her through the air. Jim’s cat, Max, likes to scrap with him, purring all the while. He smacks her on the head and the bottom, and the harder he smacks her, the louder she purrs (I don’t recommend smacking cats around, but this particular cat is a feisty little scrapper, and she loves to fight).
My dog Murfie likes having his butt scratched so much, that when I call him and wiggle my fingers at him, he’ll come within a few feet, then turn around and back the rest of the way until his butt reaches my hand. Even if I want to pet his head, I have to scratch his butt first. I’m the official Butt Scratcher, he offers his head to everyone else.:rolleyes:
My dog Boon, will fart and it is so loud he scares himself and runs away to hide, when he hides it’s usually under my bed where he will then repeat the same cycle.
Don’t know how common this is, but - my parents’ dog chases her tail, and catches it pretty quickly. It only takes about one full rotation. Then stands there wondering what to do with it.
My parents have a cat named “Cuddles”, though we call him “Jabba the Cat” (due to his extreme girth). Anyway, if anyone touches him while, or just after, he cleans himself, he has to start all over again. He gets this pissed off look on his face, too. Good fun.
Also, my parrot Sabrina likes to lie on her back, like a baby, while you scratch her head. She also plays with her toys with her feet, while lying on her back. Pretty unusual behavior for a bird.
I’ve mentioned this in another thread, but we have a cat that likes attention. If my wife or I are not paying enough attention to him because we are working or playing on the 'puter, he has learned how to turn off said computer at the surge protector. We have built something of a mini-fort around the surge protector so this is not so regular an occurrence now, but it was an especially entertaining (albeit frustrating) trick.
Jet Jaguar-- what kind of parrot is Sabrina? Poicephalus of some sort? I’ve heard they like to lay on their backs, although ours doesn’t.
Our jardine’s parrot, Murphy, when he gets bored but doesn’t want his head scratched OR to talk (odd moments-- happens especially when he’s watching cartoons or listening to techno) will start this bobbing-side-to-side motion which we call “the funky chicken”, just sort of lurching back and forth on a perch. He’ll look now and then to make sure someone is watching, and then continue. It looks fun.
He also has a large vocabulary of cat noises-- meows and other sounds that he makes while he talks and whistles regularly. Sure threw me off the first morning that we slept in after we got him. “Why is there a CAT in our apartment?!”
This is actually about my boyfriend’s Siamese cat, Ozymandias. Sometimes when Ozy is feeling hungry, he’ll deliberately try to get underneath our feet so that we trip over him, feel guilty, and feed him. It’s definitely not a cat nuzzle - he waits until your foot is off the ground and tries to insert himself underneath, waiting for you to step on him. Then if you do trip over him, he’ll lift up his injured paw and look up sadly. Sometimes, if he gets tired, he’ll switch paws.
Once I accidentally stepped on his tail and he still lifted up his paw.
C-Sue, I’ve been called many 'a name, but never Jack Russell!
My siamese, Mikos, would sit on the top of the TV and lean over to swat the fish on the screen during a Jacques Cousteau or Animal Planet episode. He was confident those fish were in there for the taking!
My Yorkshire Terrier, Brownie, would terrorize Mikos by chasing him into the bedroom. A few minutes later, Brownie would come out racing of the bedroom at mach speed with Mikos chasing him!
capybara–
I used to have 2 Jardine’s Parrots. A boy Arnie and a girl, Reallie. They also did that laying on thier backs thing, it is a good thing I had been warned by thier previous owner, they looked dead! The funniest thing Arnie used to do was bite my finger as hard as he could and scream OWWW-- almost in my voice. (Well funniest and most painful thing.)
I also have a Tiggie. This is a wild, rare type of housecat that defies the laws of gravity. Tiggie also used to get in the shower with me. Now her new odd thing is to get in the bathroom sink after we have washed our hands or brushed our teeth, and lay in it. After she gets all situated, she will lay her ears back and stretch her front legs out until she is touching one side of the sink and then she starts digging or scratching like a mad cat. The same type of claw sharpening motion, or whatever that is that “normal” cats do to carpets, couches, legs etc… I have also caught her several times with her whole front half in the toilet… I flush it when I catch her.
My kakariki (red-fronted parakeet) Brat will stick his head in a small crock pot on the computer table and mutter “Brat…Brat…You’re a Brat.” I think he likes the sound of his own voice.
Brat’s “funky chicken” dance is a lean to the left (hold the pose), lean to the right (hold the pose), bob, bob, bob, imitate the Hullabaloo dancers, repeat. And the end, he flies up to his perch tree, cackling away. Cracks me up everytime.
One of my cats loves being spun around in the breakfast chairs and going for rides in laundry baskets. She also likes to eat marshmallows and popcorn. She also knows that if she wants to be petted while she’s on your lap, she has to lay down. She’s very well trained for this. Of course, I’m so well trained that I have to then pet her once she does what she’s supposed to.
My other cat flops on the ground and rolls onto her back for a belly rub whenever you’re walking through a room. She’ll do it just as you’re about to take a step, too, so I’ve almost fallen trying to avoid her. Once, she did it while I was walking through the darkened living room. Didn’t work so well for her then.
She also gets cold and goes to sleep cuddled next to me under the blanket at night. If it’s very cold out, she’ll press up against me as hard as she can. Maybe not too quirky, but it’s adorable as hell. She also, at over five years of age, still chases her tail sometimes.
Well, in Aqua’s house of fun we have three bizzare dogs who own the household.
Cindy, our Alpha dog isn’t the most playful creature, her favorite thing to do is sleep, and her favorite place to sleep is the closet, where she has pulled my fathers old housecoat into it for a bed. She doesn’t play with toys, but on occasion will suddenly jump up from the fake sheep wool rug the dogs have in front of the patio doors to bark at it and then shake it wildly as if it had attacked her.
When she is getting a treat, her favorite thing to do is “Smile”, on command, where she will raise her lips in a snarl and look like she is about to rip your face off. Her favorite food is carrots, she will run to the fridge and stick her head in the crisper grunting as you try to pull out the bag.
Tiger, the English Springer Spaniel is a nutball, he sleeps with one or more of his toys in one of our beds, the three main ones being a Giant 3-foot peniguin, a giant bunny, or a giant tiger cat.
He loves to swim in our pool, all day and will cry at the gate if you don’t let him in. His quirkiest behavior though is when my father goes to give my mother a kiss or a hug he will bark and carry on like he was hurting her, it works vice versa too, it seems as if he always notices who instigates the hug and then barks at them.
Keikei, our Hawaiian dog’s favorite activity is to play “Feet” she will wait for you to sit in a chair and stamp your feet wherupon she will throw herself at them and bark and wriggle and generally go crazy, if you move them around she will mock attack them and be the happiest dog this side of the planet. Her favorite food is cake. We dont know why either, not even tasty steak will cause her to freak out as much. She will sit there and drool and beg just for one little bite, she will even shoulder the other dogs out of the way, but just for …cake. She is a weird dog.