Pet games and stories, put yours here.....

reply to post by Iamschist


He thinks I am a sheep or something because he follows me everywhere I go. I removed the back seats in my car years ago so that he would have plenty of room to move about as I take him all the time in it. Used to walk him 5 miles every single day when he was younger and vet nearly had a heart attack when I told him because he was only 2 months old at the time.
He said his bones would suffer but one day I was on a country road and he has a habit of sitting down when traffic pass.
A farmer in a land rover stopped and said what a beautiful and obedient dog he is and I told him what my vet said.
He said it was complete rubbish and said he never kept his sheepdog collies in a barn when the rounded up his sheep even when young so just to ignore him which I did.
I myself suffer from arthritis now so can't take him too many walks but he gets plenty of other things to keep him occupied.
He's never been ill in his life and is my soul mate....except for the wife. Better mention her or my life won't be worth living!
Have a great weekend

reply to post by Iamschist


well I haven't had any luck teaching them to play draughts or chess but hide n seek they do well at.

they have their toys and I just throw them and tell them to find teddy and they enjoy that.

they are not happy though when I throw teddy and it lands in one of their poo's... then they don't want to fetch it and I have to wash ted.

My dog and I going for a run to the shops today

'Don't eat the chair' involved me hanging my hand over the chairs arm for him to attack so swiftly that he could sink his razor like fangs into my hand, if I got my hand away quick enough he would chomp down on the chair. The object of the game was to get a chunk out of my hand and not the chair hence 'Don't Eat the chair'.

Regards

reply to post by Iamschist


I also have 2 cats who are brothers, one of whom is my avatar. I can relate to the bedtime grooming; seems like their favorite time to do the heavy detail work. I don't mind too much unless one of them is leaning on me while he does it. A gentle nudge usually fixes that.

My favorite game to play with them is "Mousie On A String". They have this goofy-looking, fake fuzz-covered mouse, around whose neck I tied a long length of sash cord. I can only get a good game going when just one of them is in the room. If they're both there, they eye each other uneasily, & usually will give the mouse a superficial lunge or 2, then nothing. Ah, but that all changes when there's only one guy around.

Toby (my avatar) is a manic pursuer. He'll chase that mouse left, right, back, forth, & even sail through the air if I decide it's time for Flying Mousie. He'll catch it & give it a bad time until I can manage to jerk the string in such a way that the mouse escapes. Toby really won't have that, & he'll chase it even harder. After he burns off his energy for the moment, he rolls over on his back, waiting for me to swing the mouse over him, dropping it on his tummy so he can go manic. He rakes it with his back legs & chews on its little head, teaching it once again that you don't mess with Toby.

His brother Willy has a different approach. He'll watch the mouse get whipped around until he thinks he knows where I'm going to make it go next. He then launches himself into the space where he thinks the mouse will be, getting it right maybe 70% of the time. A variation on that is him hiding underneath the bed, then suddenly streaking out from under in an attempt to surprise & seize his prey. If he misses, he scurries back under the bed again, as though hoping the mouse somehow didn't notice this huge predator running up on him, giving Mister William another chance.

My ex had the smartest cat I've ever seen. We taught him to catch a piece of dry food in his mouth (if we threw it carefully in the direction of his head). My ex sat patiently with him & actually taught him to offer a front paw like a dog. Over several nights I would wink at him as he sat in front of me looking up into my face, praising him when he'd imitate me, & actually getting him to switch which eye he would wink by changing mine.

We always reinforced his learning by praising him, petting & hugging him, with the occasional treat thrown in.
He soon learned that offering his paw (even without being asked "give me your paw" as he was taught) was a great way to have a fuss made over him. One night I was at the table reading & saw Oshi approaching. I set the book down as he sat in front of me. I said to him, "What's up, guy?", & he held up his paw. I was just starting to smile at this when he added a wink, & I swear my hair stood up on the back of my neck. I love my 2 guys very much; this is their time now, & my life is so much richer for them being here, but I'll always miss Oshi. He was so smart I called him "a little man in a cat suit".

reply to post by BuzzCory


Oh I love your cat stories and games! Thank you so much for posting! You made me smile!

Toby puts me in mind of the Kliban cat, lol


www.eatmousies.com... (I got the image I used off of Google, but I wanted to give credit)

Willie is more into Aerobics

See now, you use a nudge while I was more into 'Flying Kitties" lol

Boy that Oshi sounds like a clever boy for sure, and who would not miss a guy like that, the cool cat!

Iamschist
reply to post by BuzzCory

 

Oh I love your cat stories and games! Thank you so much for posting! You made me smile!

Toby puts me in mind of the Kliban cat, lol

www.eatmousies.com... (I got the image I used off of Google, but I wanted to give credit)

Willie is more into Aerobics

See now, you use a nudge while I was more into 'Flying Kitties" lol

Boy that Oshi sounds like a clever boy for sure, and who would not miss a guy like that, the cool cat!

edit on 25-11-2013 by Iamschist because: (no reason given)

You're very welcome! Haha, I'd forgotten about that cartoon. Thanks for another look at B Kliban's cat!
Okay, I have one more Oshi story, the best one: years ago, my ex & I lived in Sacramento, CA for a few years while she attended college there. I ended up as a sort of Mr Fixit assistant manager in the apartment complex where we were living. I did most of the repairs in the apartments & on the grounds, & the job had me in & out of our apartment many times in a day.

Oshi wasn't allowed out, as there was too much vehicular traffic in the complex & on the major thoroughfare outside. His favorite place to hang out was on top of the back of our sofa, which was against the living room wall next to the front door of the apartment. He would be there when I came in for something, & would watch me intently as I went to the door to leave. My ex & I both commented on how well-behaved he was for not trying to make a mad dash out the door. We both thought it was odd how his interest perked up when I would head for the door, but chalked it up to normal feline curiosity.

One night, she had gone to bed & was asleep; I was at the kitchen table with a book I couldn't put down. I decided to read just one more chapter, when I heard someone trying to open the front door of the apartment! I sat in shock for a moment, almost unwilling to believe that I had indeed heard the doorknob rattling. I then got up to go to the door. Oshi was sitting in front of the door, staring at it, & I thought, "Hah, he heard it, too!"

I looked through the peephole, nobody there; I turned off the lights & watched out the kitchen window to see if anyone would sneak past, but nobody seemed to be around. I thought maybe I took so long to react that the person had moved on.
I worried that he might try another door, & even get into someone's apartment, so I decided to check the entire complex. This wasn't so much a vigilante thing, as it was an attempt to see if this nutcase (who tries the doorknob on an apartment when the lights are on?) was still on the property, & to get a description for a call to the sheriff.

In short, I covered the whole place, adrenaline twanging in my nerve ends, & found no one. Relieved, I returned to the apartment. Fast-forward to the next night: once again, my ex is asleep, & I'm further along in my book, sitting at the table, when I hear the doorknob rattling again! This time I was ready, & sprang up from the chair to rush into the living room, where I found Oshi standing on his hind legs, as tall as he could stretch. He had his front paws on either side of the doorknob, twisting his body left, right, left, right, in an effort to open the door!

When he saw me looking at him, he quickly sat down, going into his "Oh, I'm just sitting here" routine. I actually caught a chill when I first saw him trying the door, but soon after, I couldn't stop laughing. What amazed me was that he not only knew enough to go for the knob, but he had studied how I turned it to open the door, & was only failing to pop the doorknob lock because he wasn't quite able to turn the knob enough. Of course, he didn't know that at night the deadbolt lock was also locked, but that doesn't take away anything from his amazing attempt to get outside when no one was looking.
That was when he got the nickname "Oshman The Wonder Cat!"

reply to post by BuzzCory


hahaha Oshi wanted an adventure! He sounds like a remarkable guy. None of my cats were ever that smart, or cool. It is fun to see how their minds work! Thanks for that story. He sounds like the Frank Sinatra of cats .

For Thanksgiving Day, another cat story from a Thanksgiving Day long ago, in a city far away. Location & cast of characters are the same as in the Oshi story above with the addition of my cat, Veronica, who was snoozing during the incidents related above, & so was not mentioned.

My ex & I decided that we would have Thanksgiving that year just for us; we bought a modest-sized bird that would allow for a day or 2 of yummy leftovers for sandwiches, etc. After our dinner (the cats even had some "real" turkey in their bowls for din-din), we did a most un-California-like thing: we left the car home, & took a nice walk around the area, enjoying the late afternoon weather.

We returned to a tranquil holiday scene: both cats peacefully snoozing, each in his/her favorite spot in the living room. We were surprised to see an empty platter on the kitchen table! Somehow, we had forgotten something right out of Living With Cats 101: "put the food away even if you'll be absent for only 5 minutes". We found what was left of the bird under the table, carefully stashed 'way back against the wall, as though the culprits hoped to delay our discovery of it for as long as possible.

I retrieved it, dumping it back onto the platter temporarily. My ex began laughing; she said, "Look at that skeleton! It's completely intact, yet there's not an ounce of meat left on any of the bones. They did such a thorough job in the short time they had!"
Still laughing, we went back to the living room; a closer look at our 2 bandits revealed their rounded, bulging tummies, as well as how completely zoned out they appeared to be after their feast.

Each regarded us warily through one half-opened eye until reassured by the fact that we were taking the whole thing in good humor. It was sorta like leaving the fox to guard the hen house, but I have to admit, those cats made sure that no one was going to steal that turkey! Well, no one else, anyway...

Game: Where's the treat? I hide a treat in a pocket or something and have my dogs find it.

Story: If I don't know where one of my dogs are and the other one is with me, I ask where the other dog is. For example, Suzie is standing by me and I ask, "Where's mom?" She always points toward where Molly is. Molly does the same thing when I ask where Suzie is.

a reply to: Skid Mark

Smart doggies. What kind are they? Do they know any other tricks?

a reply to: Iamschist

Molly is husky/ lab and Suzie is also part Australian cattle dog. Suzie kind of looks like a fruit bat but with bigger ears. She also acts like a monkey, even more than Molly does. They don't really do tricks, just overwhelm you with cuteness.