Hi, Terri...

I know for a fact...These stories are oh SOOO True..

I have been brought up with feline,and canine animals all my life...

Also I might add we had a parrot name "Zipper" when I was a kid...

If you let him out of the cage he would try his best to sneak something off the table...If you didn't give him something...He would curse at you and scream..

Too Funny all the stories are...I too have some good cat capers..

I have no doubt that the stories are true, I just had to add that because they were so bizarre.

Terri

Oh Teri, living with dogs, cats etc certainly has it's share of excitement.

I do know that a large part of getting dogs to do what you want is to be very very consistent, to keep them exercised so they are tired, and to remember that our rules make no sense to them. They aren't thinking, "Mom doesn't want me to have that sandwich. I'll show her." They just see an opportunity to do something nature built into them (get food). But if you are clearly the one in charge and expect them to behave in a certain way, they usually will.

For years we let our dogs be with us at meal times and saved the last bite for them. But they started to become a little pushy and little overweight so I decided they should not be in the kitchen or dinning room when we ate.

I thought it would be really hard to get them to do this, but it actually was pretty easy. So now all but the puppy (because I don't know what he would get into while I was eating) lie in the hall while we eat, and sometimes while I cook. No baby gate needed.

But almost any dog will take food if they think they can get away with it, so we long ago learned to set food we didn't want them to have in the microwave or in the oven if we were not going to be paying attention.

It is possible to train a dog to refuse any and all food except that freely given by the owner, but it's a long hard slog and I'm certainly not up to it.

Strange stories? Nah. How about the time my George cat, now long gone but not forgotten, climbed into the fridge when I got the milk out cause he loved foooood. I didn't notice anything till I went to put back the milk, and there he was just sitting on the shelf. Gaaahhh! Good thing I wasn't away longer.

Then of course he also loved to hop into the open oven. Had to be careful since sometimes it was very HOT.

Then there was Snatcher, who loved to jump into my clothes dryer when the clothes were cuddly warm and dive under everything and hide. Ugh. So I always check every little door or appliance I open now. You never know who is going to be IN.

I love pet stories! I've got a ton of them, but stealing food isn't a problem at my house. Right after SIT and STAY, the next two commands Toby learned was TAKE IT and LEAVE IT. He won't even touch a dog bone laying on the foot stool unless I tell him to TAKE IT. He has to work for any food he receives. It can be as simple as SIT, WAIT, PAW, SPEAK ... but he always has to do something to earn food, even his dog dish. Maybe he doesn't steal food because he hasn't worked for it? Hmmmmm, a dog with ethics.

I do have a helpful hint regarding pulling and yanking you on his leash. First, buy a Gentle Leader. It looks like a muzzle because it fits over his nose and then snaps behind his ears, but it's doesn't restrict his mouth at all. When he tries to pull away while being walked, the Gentle Leader turns his head to the side without pulling my arm out of socket. An added benefit of the Gentle Leader is that it doesn't put pressure on his dog collar which can damage a dog's throat.

I learned another extremely helpful hint just recently. Although Toby can't yank and pull on his leash, he still would never HEEL properly. Dogs love to go on "pack walks", but their nature is to follow the leader. You have to go through the door first to establish that it's YOUR walk, not HIS. I had always let Toby out the door first and then followed him to pull the door closed behind us. The very first time I had him SIT at the open door, went through first and then let him follow me, he HEELED the entire walk without a single protest. Could it have really been that easy? I just never thought about the significance of who went through the door first, but in doggy mentality it's what sets the tone for the entire venture.

Good luck with the whippet. They are definitely high energy dogs. All breeds have positive and negative traits, so you take the good with the bad. Establishing yourself as his pack leader will help tremendously. He'll do anything to please you and will feel safe and secure when he knows you are in charge and he doesn't have to make decisions. A well-behaved dog is a happy dog.

I'm reading this post and it brings back so many memories. I've lived with dogs almost constantly since I was a kid. When my husband and I adopted our first, Rusty, a collie/shepherd, I went to obedience school, came close to quitting and learned a lot.

Since then I've come to accept dogs for the love that they give and decide what's going to work and what isn't. Unfortunately, we have to tether our current terrier mix or he'll jump or crawl under the fence and we live near two heavily trafficked main streets. He's very limber and strong, even at 9+ years old. We have to put a large ball or dinner tray or something on my hubby's lounge chair because the dog thinks it's his. He won't touch mine because it glides. Early on we pushed him off the bed once or twice with lots of 'no!'s and that stopped.

I completely agree with whoever said it takes a lot of love and patience to learn how to work with any dog. They all have their habits and preferences. But they're also resilient. You can push em away, carefully smack 'em (like the mousetrap idea) and they learn quickly. Our trainer once told us to take time when the animal is not around and practice hitting a pillow on a couch from a few feet away with a small ball. When you can hit it in the middle several times, then you're ready to work to catch the animal in the act of being naughty. All it takes is one smack on the right spot, usually the middle of the snout (which is all cartilege) to get your (no, get out, leave it alone) message across. The animal will most likely yelp but there won't be any blood just a bruised ego and a big memory.

Of course, besides the discipline, lots and lots of love! I don't mean treats but petting and pleasant tone of voice.

Good luck and enjoy!

Dog and Cat Tales you gotta love em

That brings back memories of my dog and two cats that have gone to Animal Heaven a few years ago, and I miss them dearly. I only have on Cat now and her name is Cali. Anyway our dog was named Duke and aptley so because he was a big guy part Great Dane and Sheperd, but with a gentle personality and everyone was a friend to him. The insident that I remember most was one evening I had prepared chicken for supper and my son filled his plate and carried it in the family room to watch a little tv and as the got close to the snack table and was about to put his plate down a large chicken breast went slipping off his plate and wouldn't you know it that dog grabbed that chicken so fast it didn't even have a chance to even come close to the floor and off he went running to his bed. We all laughed so hard that tears rolled down our eyes and our bellys hurt.

And my two cats Corky and Quig where the worst little pair of thiefs when it came to food that I've ever laid my eyes on. I would no more get done at the stove using the frying pan but Corky the siamese would be up on it trying to steal the food even before I could reach in the cubbard and get a dish to serve it on. The other tiger one Corky would at least wait until I left the stove and served the food and then go and lick the pot clean. So many tale to tell about the to little rascals.

The time my 110 lb. Alaskan Malamute, Wuuku, was on the dinner table - each paw at a compass point and chewing on the roast chicken. There were 7 of us when we all were home and the dinner table was big and I had fully set it. Roast chicken mashed potatos and odds and ends but she preferred the chicken..And one of my kids yelling don't let her get a long bone it will hurt her. I patched up chicky and great white father never knew a thing.
L4L that chicken in the sink could have been on that TV program. Those poor kittys had to work!!

Yankee, yes they did. It was so funny that I just watched to see how far they'd get it.

Your story sounds like our first Christmas. We had a nice turkey dinner, and then went to play with the baby in the bath tub with his new bath tub toys. When I came back, I noticed the turkey was gone. I very happily thanked hubby for putting it away only to be answered "I didn't."

Turned out our Border Collie had helped himself

Lfour thats like that movie A Christmas Carol, I think where the 2 neighbor dogs rushed into kitchen and commanderred the turkey so the family ate chinese for Christmas.
So many hilarious memories because of our pets and don't get me started on the horses. Our Appy pony was a genius.
And the time Quippy, a sweet little black and white kitty was sitting butt down, tail up on a dinner plate. Family was waiting for Sam, husband at the time, to come downstairs for dinner. So I just quickly and with extreem deft switched plates so Sam had the violated plate. The kids were like 4,5,6,7,8 - just a good age. The 2 double scorpios were doing summersalts - almost - throughout dinner and Sam barely noticed. The only way he's to know this happeded is if he reads this post, which is highly unlikely.

Yankee

Yes, our pets do most certainly keep us laughing

I don't think any of the 3 dogs I've owned ate a whole meat from off the table. But Rusty had a thing for licking the juice/fat from empty lunchmeat and bacon packages. Even though Rusty was strong and could easily jump over things, he never did. He had learned as a pup to stay behind barriers and it was as if he never realized that, as an adult dog, he could, so we left him in the kitchen, behind a waist-hi board. That worked except for finding the garbage all over the floor.

The one thing I haven't heard mentioned here yet is pets who bring home 'presents' from outside or get themselves in trouble with a critter. Hubby and I dealt with the skunk experience one summer when Rusty killed one in the back yard. Thank goodness it was a baby. We were soaking him down with either tomato or lemon juice at 10pm that night, then a good bath and thorough brushing the next day got rid of the worst of it.

Our terrier, Buddy, has found and tried to play with a nest of new rabbits. One afternoon I opened the back door to go sit outside and Buddy faced me, from a few feet away, with a limp rabbit in his mouth. I was horrified. Thankfully, instead of making me chase him around the yard, he dropped it when I told him to, then went into the house. Then I grabbed the poop bag and went around the yard to find and pick up several more victims. They were old enough to have some fur. In his desire to play all he needed to do was catch (pounce)on it which snapped the poor thing's back. After one summer of several mama rabbits losing their young to our dogs, they don't bury them in our yard anymore.

Ah, yes, they can be soooo entertaining!

Poor critters, but then again, dogs and cats were built for hunting. George Cat, although declawed on his front feet, would stake out gopher holes. He would lie down and put one front leg in the hole all the way up to his shoulder. In short time, he would actually catch a gopher, which usually ran all over and then ducked into another hole.

One day, George banged on the back door (his signal to let him in) and rushed through the house. Before I could stop him, he had deposited a LIVE unharmed, very scared gopher on the living room rug. It promptly ran under the couch and hubby and I spent 2 hours trying to capture it, while George just looked on smiling.

That was the last time I opened the door for him without looking FIRST to see if he had anything in his mouth. Usually he brought us tiny mice, but this was a biggie deal. Ugh.

Definite on that Sorta. Your description of George and the gopher is similar to our Buddy who absolutely loves cicadas. He can hear or feel them moving about in the ground. He'll lie in the grass patiently waiting. The poor bug (ugly though it may be) won't see the light of day. It goes right from the ground into the dog's mouth for a crunchy treat. In fact, our vet told us to watch the dog carefully during bug time 'cause some dogs eat too much and get sick on the protein leading to a costly vet bill for having the stomach pumped!

Our Great Danes had to be banished from our main garden - but not for eating creatures of any kind.
They developed a taste for roses and would eat a whole bush, each, in minutes - thorns and all !!

However, one of the most amusing sights for me was when they discovered a mouse in one of the outhouses out back.

Each dog weighed 210 pounds so there was no way they would be quick enough to chase the mouse and catch it and they must have known it because they both lay down outside the door "in wait" ....

But the mouse had other ideas. He climbed out through the window and escaped over the roof