Your pets’ strangest habits/behaviors

[Packard]

I was reading online the other day and they had an article where people wrote in and listed their spouse’s/significant others’ unpleasant habits.

I would have qualified.

One woman complained that her husband routinely leaves kitchen cabinet doors open.

I’m just like that. 

I’m always surprised when I walk back into the kitchen to find 2 or 3 cabinet doors open.  I always take that opportunity to close them.

My second German Shepherd would have listed my bad habit if he read the Internet.

After I would leave the kitchen, I would hear “bang…bang…bang”.  No soft close on my old cabinets.  My dog would undertake to close all the open lower cabinet doors.  (He made no attempts on the uppers, though.)

A couple of times I saw him do it.  He would walk up to the offending cabinet, put his muzzle against the open door and quickly turn his head to slam it closed.  Then he would go onto the other doors.

This was not trained behavior, but something he took on as his responsibility.  I have no idea why he did it either.  I do know it was consistent throughout his life.

So, what strange behaviors do your pets engage in?

 

[Sparktrician]

Ten years back I had two German Shedders and a mix that looked suspiciously like a Lab with a few other entrants.  She absolutely refused to eat out of her own bowl and went face-down in the boys' bowls.  They, being gentlemen, backed away and looked at me as if to exclaim, "DAD!"  It got to the point that I had to crate her while I walked the boys, then brought them in to eat.  While they were eating uninterrupted I took her out for her walk, then brought her in to eat out of one of their bowls.  I still haven't figured that one out, and she's been gone 10 years.  [blink]

 

[Packard]

My Doberman loved water. Not strange for a water dog, but very strange for a Doberman. 

I lived in a condominium at that time, and if I wanted to take a shower, I would have to run the water for about 5 minutes before I got any hot water. 

If I ran the shower and forgot to close the bathroom door, I would find my Doberman standing in the bathtub soaking wet. 

At that point, I had to pull him out of the tub, towel him dry, and then take my own shower. 

The last time that happened, I changed my grooming habits.  I took to taking showers before bedtime.  (I still do.)

I change the bedsheets once a week and they always look perfectly clean.  When I showered in the morning, I guess the sweat off my body would grey the sheets.

In any case, strange for a Doberman, but not strange for a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

He also drank black coffee (no sugar), beer, and Johnny Walker (red).  Of the three he preferred the beer.

 

[twistsol1]

We had a mostly Sheltie mutt that would sleep in our room with my wife and me, but would get up half a dozen times a night and "check" on our girls. When they got older and had babysitting jobs or were out late, he would wait at the top of the stairs until everyone was home and then come to our room.

When my oldest daughter went to college and the twins followed a couple of years later, he waited at the top of the stairs unless they were all home for a holiday. He essentially waited at the top of the stairs every night for the rest of his life.

 

[Vtshopdog]

My Doberman loved water. Not strange for a water dog, but very strange for a Doberman. 

He also drank black coffee (no sugar), beer, and Johnny Walker (red).  Of the three he preferred the beer.

A guy who worked for me had a Dalmatian that loved beer, but only good dark beer and particularly high alcohol varieties.  He was a lush and the other staff made a game of giving him more that they should have at after hours gatherings.

 

[hdv]

This was a couple of years back when we still had a rooster. When we would bring treats to the chickens, he would make a line of the treats and run around them with his left wing down. Then he allowed the hens to eat the treats. Only when they were done would he start on them himself. He was a real gentleman. It was also very funny to look at. I have always regretted not making a movie to capture such moments. It is always afterwards that you think "I should have done that".

The Carpatian Shepherd we had before our current dogs would only drink from our Koi pond. We had bowls of water inside and outside, but he never drank from them. It had to be the fishy smelly stuff.  [big grin]

 

[Packard]

My Doberman was seriously oversized, standing 2” taller than the dining table at the withers.  He would come to the table while I ate and quite politely lower his chin to the table and wait for the left overs.

There was a bar about two blocks away from my house back then. When I would walk the dog, we almost always passed the bar. 

On weekends, in warm weather the owner would leave the front door open and he befriended my dog, invited us in and I had a beer.  He also said that “Ruggles” and I were welcome any time.

So, on some Friday nights we would stop in for a beer.  Ruggles was exceptionally well-trained and exceptionally over-socialized—to the point where he behaved more like a golden retriever than a Doberman.

In the bar, he would walk over and greet everyone that came in.

His strange habit was largely tied to his size.  If he stood up and placed his paws on my shoulders his nose would be at about 6 feet tall. 

What he would do was when a customer ordered a draft of beer in a mug, he put his front paws on the edge of bar and when the customer was not paying attention, he would start drinking the beer right from the mug. 

There was not a night that I was in the bar with Ruggles that didn’t have to buy a replacement beer.

The bar owner told me, even though Ruggles was perfectly well-behaved and non-aggressive, there was never a fight when Ruggles was in the bar.  He was a calming influence I guess.

People started buying him drinks, and I had to put an end to that.  A drunk Doberman was not a pretty sight.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Years back I had a Galah (Aussie parrot) that really hated women. No idea why, he absolutely adored me and would literally hang off me any time possible, looking for a scratch.

But he had this hilarious act that whenever the missus or another women was around, he'd very sneakily walk sideways or backwards towards them happily muttering away to himself, and once he was close enough he'd suddenly swing around and bite their foot.

Being an Aussie he had a very well developed sense of sarcasm, and when he was laughed at he'd laugh right back at you, but in the most sarcastic tone possible, Alan Rickman style!

 

[Packard]

I inherited a parakeet when I was in college.  He resented being locked in his cage and was very nasty.  The first day I had him he bit me and drew blood.

I was a little bit afraid of him, and did not try to put him back in the cage.  Instead I left the cage door open and he could go in (for meals) or leave the cage as he pleased.  After that he quickly became very friendly.

I never taught him to speak, but he would sit on my shoulder while I was typing and he perfected the precise sound of an Olympia typewriter banging out a manuscript.

I cannot tell you how many times my buddies would pound on my dorm room door for me to answer when they knew I was in because they could hear me typing.

I would say, “That wasn’t me, that was the parakeet”.

And they would reply, “Yeah, right.  You taught your bird how to type.”

In time they all observed the bird typing, so I was eventually forgiven.

 

[johnmpf]

Like many dogs, Sparky barked and growled at people in uniform.  Cops, the mail man etc. 
One of or neighbors hated the dog and called the cops on him, claiming he was a "vicious dog".  We had a fence right next to the driveway.  I see the cop pull in and try to get out there before the dog, expecting the usual reaction to the uniform.  Sparky races out through the dog door and get there first.  I open the front door and the dog has his paws on the top of the fence.  He is licking the cops hand while be petted by the other hand.  The dog acts like he just found his long lost brother.  The cop looks at me and say, "so this is the viscous dog".  He comes into the yard the dog rolls on is back for belly rubs.  How the dog knew to be good is a mystery to this day. 
The neighbor got a ticket for filing a false complaint.  I guess that they did not realize that "viscous dog" is a legal term that requires action by the authorities. 

 

[Packard]

A neighbor in my apartment complex called the authorities and they sent an animal protection cop to my home.  He said that they had complaints that I was beating my dog horribly.  They could hear the dog cry down the hall.

I said, “Did it sounds something like this?”  At which time I turned to my dog and said, “What did you do?  What did you do?  Bad dog.”  To which my dog howled like he had been beaten with a whip.

The enforcement officer said he would speak to the woman who complained. 

That same dog, a German Shepherd imported from West Germany in the 1970, was unaware that parents were allowed to beat their children and husbands were allowed to beat their wives.  At that time, people looked the other way when that sort of thing happened.  My dog did not look the other way.  His behavior at that time was considered socially unacceptable. But I said to myself, “You know—the dog’s right.  The rest of the world has it all wrong.”

At that time I was working as a bouncer in a bar.  A man slapped his wife.  I threw him out of the bar.  He said, “It’s my wife.  I can hit my wife if I want to.”

I said, “You can do that at home.  Not here.  Not in this bar.”  The other bouncers said, “But it is his wife”, and I said, “I only take advice from my dog.”

 

[greg mann]

Oh, man, where do I begin? Had three greyhounds that would roo (howl for other dogs) when they heard Lady Gaga singing “Telephone”. No other song.

We have a greyhound now that doesn’t like bad weather. She knows a storm is brewing a half hour before we can hear is see anything.

I had a German Shepard, Rommel, that went to work with me for years. He always greeted new visitors with a polite but thorough sniff the first time they came. They could return a year later and he knew they were already approved and paid no bother. This routine was consistent over a couple hundred occasions and I can’t recall him ever giving a someone a twice over. He would leave them be unless they greeted him. My son had rescued him when Rommel was three and asked us to take him when he was five as he had to go back to Iraq. So, at five he became my buddy. He would follow me around at work, wait for me to finish whatever task I was doing, and then we would move on. A new employee once asked me how long it took me to train him to do what he did. I never spent one minute training him to do anything. He just figured out what I wanted from him on his own. Friendliest creature ever, but he always knew if a car pulled into the driveway. One bark then one more bark when they got to the door but as soon as he knew we were comfortable with the visitor then all was well. Our vet said he was the gentlest GSD they ever encountered. He would let them do anything they needed without any fuss. Even when he was near the end he always slept in the bedroom doorway as it was his job to watch over us. Loved that boy.

 

[Packard]

I have had a Shetland Sheepdog, a Standard Schnauzer, a German Shepherd, a Doberman Pinscher, A Fila Brasilero, another German Shepherd, and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever in my 75 years.

Easily, the strangest and least expected behavior came from my second German Shepherd, a well-trained and obedient dog with no weird personality quirks.  For him, all children walked on hallowed ground—they could do no wrong.

One day we were drinking coffee (I was drinking, the dog was keeping me company) outdoors at Starbucks near my office.  We went there frequently when the weather was nice.  Many of the other patrons knew me and knew my dog was quiet and well-behaved.

So on that day an adopted child—a toddler really started walking towards me and my dog. I surmised he was adopted as the mother and father were white, and the child was oriental.  In all my time with my dog, I knew him to be afraid of no human.  He might be friendly to them, indifferent to them or clearly adverse to them, but never afraid of them.

So as this toddler started towards us, my dog stood up, the hair on his hackles stood on end, and he started to growl.  Most amazing to me was that my dog was leaning against my leg.  It was clear to me that he was terrified of this toddler.  As the child came closer my dog bared his fangs and started to growl loudly. 

I warned the parents to keep the child away from my dog. 

After the child was guided away from my dog, he quickly settled down, but clearly was watching the door to Starbucks in vigilance in case that “threat” returned.

Others sitting outside asked me, “What was that about?”  I said, “I have no idea.  That is easily the strangest thing he has ever done.”

Another patron said, “I’ll bet that if we lift his shirt, we would see a birthmark showing ‘666’ ‘.

I have never figured out what it was about this child that spooked my dog.  With that notable exception, that was the only time he reacted that way towards anyone, child or adult.  He had warned off adults a few times in his lifetime for reasons that were known to him only.  But his fear of that small child was exceptional.  I mean my dog weight 110 pounds, probably three times the child’s weight.  What could that child have that scared him so?

We will never figure it out.  Perhaps that child, who would now be in his 30s became a serial killer.  I’ll never know.