Pets

[Irish]

Do we have a pet thread?

I have 3 dogs. 2 of them are trained to go in their cage when I tell them to or they just automatically go lay down in there when they know I'm getting dressed to leave the house. It's amazing that they know the difference of my getting dressed to leave and me getting dressed to take them for a walk. Anyways....

I actually cleaned the living room the other night and decided to move the cages from Wall A to Wall B. From Wall B I moved a cushiony purple chair to Wall A.  Now when ever I tell the dogs to go to their cages they get up in the purple chair where their cages used to be. Nevermind their homes are still easily accessible and just on the other wall in the same room. If they don't get up in the chair then they'll sit in front of it.

Guess I'll be moving the cages back tonight.

[random axe]

I'm sure I've told this story before, but:  Some friends of mine, many years ago, bought a funny-looking little puppy at a shelter, and the shelter people didn't know what breed it was.  Short-haired golden puppy with a weird Mohawk strip down its spine.

Anyway, they brought it home and confined it to the kitchen while it was being housebroken.  They kept it from going into the living room by putting a 2x4, on its side, across the doorway.  The puppy was so small it couldn't jump over the board.

A year later, the dog is a ginormous Rhodesian ridgeback (almost 150 lb / 70 kg) who thinks he's still a puppy.  Wants to climb up into your lap, jumps around in joy when visitors come over, etc.  So when they have company, they confine him to the kitchen . . . by putting the 2x4 across the doorway. 

And the dog will lean way, way over the board, looking mournfully out, like Why have you locked me in here?  But he won't jump (or just walk) over the board.

[DM]

3 dogs - Kane, the German Shepherd, is only 10 months old and is already 85 lbs.  Smart fucker too.  We had to install dog door on the back side of the house because when he was tall enough to reach the door handle, he would let himself in from the back yard.  The little dogs are cool as hell.     

3 cats.  All weird, even by cat standards.

[Irish]

My one dog is smart and manipulative little thing. I know I've told this story before but it's one of my favorites.

So I used to live on the second story of my apartment building. Turtle used to sit by the door when he needed to go outside but it was down a short hallway. I wouldn’t always see him right away. I ended up buying him this wireless dog paw doorbell. It was a big plastic dog paw that he pressed which would ring a bell to let me know he needed to go out. Training didn’t go so well. He hated, hated, pressing that thing for some reason. Every time before we went out I would pick him up, carry him over to the paw, and take his foot and manually press it against it to ring the bell. He wouldn’t do it on his own though and continued to sit by the door instead.

One day my boyfriend and I were having some nice foreplay leading into sex. And wouldn’t you know it. Ding dong. I groaned – and not the good kind of groaning. If I didn’t take him out, the dog, then I’m negating his training. If I do take him out I have to get dressed, walk down stairs, let him do his business, and then get back into the action. As with everything in my life, dogs come first. My boyfriend actually offered and took him out for me. So they come back in, he gets undressed, and game on. Ding dong. I looked over at Turtle and I swear this dog had a smug F.U. look on his face. I told him No! And he pressed it again! And again. And again. I finally had to pick the damn paw up off the floor.

The only time that dog ever used the thing is when I was having sex.

[BizB]

I have a dog and a cat.  Cadence, the dog, is very stupid.  So stupid, in fact, that she comes across as well trained.  That's because she won't do anything until you tell her to do it.  But, it's not because she's so well trained.  It's because the only thing going on in here little dog brain is, "I love you, daddy!"  She's not capable of independent thought or action.

I have a jingle-bell tied to a leather string by the back door.  She uses it to tell me when she needs to go out... sometimes.  Most of the time she'll stand by the back door wagging her tail until I say, "Ring the bell."  Then, she does.  If she's not standing next to the bell and I tell her to ring the bell, she will paw at whatever is closest to her... the cat, the couch, a box... whatever.

[DM]

Hehe. 

Before we got the dog door, Kane would slam his paw against the blinds on the back door when he wanted out, which was every five minutes.  We'd let him out and five minutes later he would let himself in.  We were always letting him out and closing the door when he let himself in.  That effin' dog door was one of the best investments we made. 

Kane is very alert when it comes to his surroundings.  If he hasn't seen me or Elaine for a while, he'll come into to the room we are in to check on us.  He also wanders a lot.  He is always walking through the house and going into the back yard to make sure everything is copasetic.  I really need to start spending more time training him because he has been babied over the last few months.     

[Talix]

I really want that kind of dog. 

And someone to walk him in bad weather and take care of him on weekends when I'm away.

[Irish]

I wish my dogs could let themselves in. My back screen door isn't locked/hinged very well so they can just push on it to let themselves out. But then they paw and slam up against the door when they want back in.

I'm thinking about getting doggie insurance. Not sure if it's worth it and have not done any research on it yet. If it pays for teeth cleaning it might be. I'm more worried about when they get older and start having health issues. They are 4, 2, and 1 human years. It's quite possible 2 of them will start to go downhill at the same time. I need to start socking money away now to pay for future medical bills.

I'm also worried about having a baby with 3 dogs. I can't imagine having to give up any of my dogs but you never know what the future holds. Of course, no need to worry about it as the baby thing is a just a theory in a distant galaxy far far away.

[DM]

I used to think pet insurance was stupid until last weekend, when Kane got his stitches.  That wasn't cheap.  I'm considering insurance too.  The little dogs are allergic to vaccines.  The first time we took them to get their shots, their faces got all swollen up and stuff.  Scared the shit out of us and we rushed them back to the vet.  That wasn't cheap either.   

[hajen]

Three cats each with their own talents:
one pisses on stuff
one barfs
one hairballs and, if sufficiently annoyed, poops

[the other andrea]

1) Tunie: Black, 4 year old rescue cat Steve brought home from this sad animal shelter outside of town. She's Momma's baby. She's always waiting by the front door for me when I get home. We have this routine where I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder and we walk around the house for 10 or 15 minutes. I've been thinking I need to get one of those baby slings to put her in so I can use both hands to do chores.   And no matter where she is in the house, and regardless of whether the door is open or closed, she runs in the bathroom when she hears me pee. No idea why.

2) Pepper: A 3 year old tabby we got a few months after Tunie, to be her companion. Pepper is the opposite of Tunie; she's pretty laid back. She's Daddy's baby. She loves to be petted, but does not like to be picked up and held. You can hear her purr from across the room.

3) Eeyore: A female box turtle, about 7-8 years old. I pick snails for her to eat from the garden. Somehow she knows when I'm coming to put a snail in her terrarium; I've never seen a turtle move so fast and get so excited.

4) Buster: A male aquatic turtle (red-eared slider), about 8-9 years old. He recognizes Steve's voice (Steve got him when he was very small) -- and after 6 years he recognizes my voice too. About twice a year we buy Buster 5 feeder goldfish. Every time he eats 4 of them right away, and then leaves the last one alone to share the tank with him. Eventually the gold fish gets to be 3 or 4 inches in size, and Buster decides to eat him -- it's like he's raising a cow for beef. However his current "steak", "Big Boy", has been in the tank with him for almost a year and is about 7 inches long now, bigger than Buster. So we're not sure how that's going to play out.

[Stoater]

5 p1g5
2 Gouramis
6 Corydoras

*edit*

1 giant golden freshwater snail
1 small non-descriptive snail that was a freebie

*edit again*

3 Ghost shrimp

[Lindsey Buckinghmof]

One deaf, creaky, lazy as hell border collie.

She's still on the job though. Counts the kids each morning, and barks if they're not all present for breakfast. Also barks if  they're running late for school, and if they haven't fed her or changed her water. Otherwise doesn't bark at all.

[flipper]

Bear is a ten and a half year old mutt from the pound.  He is probably German Shepherd/Norwegian Elkhound mix with who knows what else.  He is incredibly intelligent and communicative.  He does a great job with Ian and is very protective.  He weighs about 75 pounds

Scooter is a two and a half year old mutt from two un-neutered strays from the Gilroy hills.  She is probably a mix of some sort of terrier, coyote, and possibly German Shepherd.  It's weird, she has the same markings as Bear but without the fluffy curly tail.  She is about 35 pounds and is very sweet, but not too bright.  She is also incredibly fast and agile.  She is wary of Ian and tries to keep an 18" buffer between them.  But she obviously has welcomed him into the pack, nonetheless.

Both are good hunters and get a bird every once in a while and rodents have been eradicated at every residence because of Bear mostly.  Both are obedience trained and are basically free range in and out of the house.

[the other andrea]

I'm also worried about having a baby with 3 dogs. I can't imagine having to give up any of my dogs but you never know what the future holds.

I have a good friend who has four dogs, and they had no problem when she brought home her daughter. She let them all have a good sniff of the baby, instead of shooing them away from her, and they accepted her daughter into the pack right away.

My cats, however, don't like babies. Everytime one of our friends brings a baby over and the baby starts to cry, the cats freak out. They must think it's a wounded animal or something.