BS: Our pets favorite things

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Sorcha
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 09:18 PM

All of ours just eat dog beds. They prefer the Human Bed, with human as pillow. Life gits teejus, don't it?

The cats have discovered a new favorite place outside. The hot tub/spa cover has a 'dent' in the heavy styro cover, so I covered it with an old rug. Now, it's a warm, cat sized depression on the lid out of Dog Reach. They argue about who had it first this time. The loser gets the rug on the window shelf beside the computer.

I see the 'loser' more often, so 'loser' gets to come inside first, most often!

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 09:10 PM

Looks like a bad typo day today... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 09:06 PM

I have two balck female cats, sorta Yin & Yan...

One is delicate, the Siamaese build. Highly intellignet, and very affectionate, but fairly quiet.

Her half sister from the next litter, same mother, but three times the size and weight, 'talks' loudly all te htime - I can hold 'conservations' for several minutes!, and perhaps not quite as bright... She's a 'British build' cat, not at all fat, but very bulky, and a thorough sook, hangs around me a lot. The other day I found her asleep on the floor, with her face buried deep in one of my dirty smelly 'yard' socks... as I said, not all that bright...

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: wysiwyg
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 12:39 PM

Dog Beds.

With sharp winter winds icing into the dogs' kitchen corner, it's time for the annual seasonal adjustments.


We started with inexpensive dog-bed sacks purchased at a nearby surplus outlet-- zippered rectangles with sturdy duck on one side and fake fleece on the other. Empty (or stuffed with the cheap fiberfill batting the store also had), these are their summer beds.

Faulkner especially thinks of his as "his place" wherever we take him, so we keep an empty one in the travel van for his occasional sleepovers. "Go sit" means "Go sit on your designated bed and stay out of the traffic lanes here." He's happoy to comply-- "Oh, thank you, THIS is my spot in this confusing place!" At night, he feels secure instead of nervous, and hosts don't feel like they'll trip on him in the dark; he is visible on that bed against the pale fleece, even by nightlight. See the bed minus the dog-- step carefully! (sliding cat-owner footsteps)


In the warmer months these large bedsacks are simply folded, empty, so that each dog has some padding underneath but not too much heat-holding padding. In Mud Season and Flea Season they are easily washed.


In the winter the sacks get their stuffing. F's is now stuffed not only with a couple of layers of batting, but also a pair of pool noodles that create a contour for him to curl up in-- two old noodles duct-taped together to make a taller channel, just inserted into the bag. The bag controls their curve nicely and F really likes his new bed model.


Ruby, now, for winter, has the REAL cushy dogbed, and that is an old coat to lie upon. I needed large buttons for another coat, so I bought an old coat at a thrift store for a much-cheaper, much-better set of buttons than I'd been able to find anywhere in the size I needed. The old coat is a vintage fake fur, like a thick mouton plush. With the sleeves folded into it inside-out, and with the front stitched closed, it makes a wonderful dog bed.

Not only is that Ruby's winter bed, it's out in the flame-heated laundry room where the slate floor in front of the heater holds heat for a long, long time. She basks in the heater's flame alongside the cats quite happily! I can toss the fake fur in the washer as needed; if it gets really nasty I'll wrap it in a dogbed sack, too.


It's very amusing to see the dogs find and sniff each others' new winter beds. Envy! Then they run back to their own to lay claim to it, just in case!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Arne
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 12:03 PM

My youngest feline, Yap (named for the island, not her bark) likes to take my hair-ties (even out of the drawer; she'll open it) and put them in the toilet.

The grand old lady, Nickie, loves to lick your face at night in bed. Occasionally, she'll bite your nose too....

Cheers,

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Arne
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 11:54 AM

Donuel:

Why is that?, our border collie eats poo too...

My sister had a friend who kept wondering why she kept seeing cat litter in the bottom of the toilet bowl. She finally figured it out; dogs are coprophagic (perhaps an adaptation from the wild for vitamin supplementation), and the dog was taking midnight snacks from the 'buffet' and washing it down with a cool drink from the 'fountain'....

Cheers,

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Becca72
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 10:32 AM

Thank you, Susan. The vet said this morning that he is doing "great" and they expect this to be fixed with a change to his diet. He's still a baby!

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 10:00 AM

Steady hand and probably magnifying lenses-- it has to be like threading a needle and I need the cheaters for that already! I hope your cat will do well post-cath; I've been through that round (including the reaming surgery) with our cats now and then and I don't wish it on anyone, cat OR owner.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Becca72
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 09:57 AM

In the case of my Mikey one of his current favorite things is being able to pee without aid of a catheter again. Poor little guy!

BTW, I cannot even imagine the steady hand it takes to catheterize an 8 lb cat!

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Becca72
Date: 20 Sep 07 - 07:22 AM

Ebbie,
It must be a black cat thing. My Sheldon does the same thing with lying on my chest and touching my face. He likes to knead while doing this, which can be quite painful at times.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Greg B
Date: 19 Sep 07 - 06:17 PM

So today I took pictures off the outside walls, in preparation for
a siding project. Boots the Cat looks at the vacant nails, and is
sure they must be bugs or something. I had to lift him up so he could
touch each one with his paw and see it was cold hard steel before
his general sense of agitation subsided.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 11:47 PM

Since it is not the breed of a dog, per se, that I respond to, Sorcha, a faked breed would not matter to me personally. As for the Norwich and the Cairn breeds they are similar enough that if a breed's characteristic did matter to me I'd be happy with either.

However, the Norwich is appreciably smaller than a Cairn so it might be difficult to pass one off as the other.

I read about it in Wikipedia- and the whole thing doesn't make sense to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Sorcha
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 09:55 PM

Hey, Ebbie, you hear about this (idiotic crazy) person who imported some Cairns, docked the tails, docked the gets tails, and registered them and the get as Norwich?

I just heard today and I gather it's an Un Holy Mess. Not sure how to research it.....my guess is a Puppy Miller and Norwich are what is selling this year, not Cairns.

Something now about a 3 generation waiting period to register them. Not sure what. Glad I'm not a terrier person!

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: John Hardly
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 09:17 PM

not this

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 08:39 PM

The breeder's books say that Cairn terriers have to be kept on leash - that it is "impossible to teach them not to run off" - but my little Meggie has put the lie to that. She was four years old when her first owner died. She had obviously received a lot of TLC but she has learned a great many things in the two years she has been with me. Things that are meant to keep her safer, such as waiting at the end of the block until I give her permission to cross or to get back on the sidewalk (UK pavement) or to respond to just fingers' 'twinkling' when I want her to come closer.

Meggie loves broccoli, either raw or cooked. She also loves the mail carrier. When she sees his mail wagon she'll gallop two blocks to catch up with him, pausing only momentarily at the end of the block for my permission before bolting on. When he is out of dog treats she is perfectly happy with his attentions.

archy, (as in Mehitabel), my 12-year-old coal black cat, loves nothing quite as much as lying on my chest with his paws on my face. From time to time I have to lift a foot away because he is hooking onto my lip. We have gone round for round on that- him trying to restore the paw to his favorite spot, me saying, No, that almost hurts...

archy loves music also. More so than Meggie, he always comes and stays at attention as long as someone keeps singing or playing.

He also gets some kind of satisfaction from walking across the computer keyboard. He no longer, at my proscription, sits on it but he evidently figures that walking the length of it is non-objectionable.

Aren't they fun!

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 05:28 PM

DEMNADS?

the go nads connected to the weiner bone
the wiener bone connected to the ass bone
the ass bone's connected to the tail bone
controlled by the brain

dem nads dem nads dem gonads
dem nads dem nads dem gonads
dem nads dem nads dem gonads

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 03:41 PM

Toujours squeak, toujours squeak.

F now has five or six different squeak-toys-wrapped-in-Dave's-old-socks and DEMNANDS that we toss them about for him to chase and pounce upon. He barks, and then turns right into a cat.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 03:29 PM

Mattie [Mehitabel] with her favourite thing. It's a velour spider, and it squeaks. She just loves racing around with it in her jaws chewing on it like a maniac, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, BLOODY squeak!
Giok
Yup I know Mehitabel was a cat, not my call.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: MMario
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 02:31 PM

lessee - of the three "house" pets.

Storm -
#1 - begging to be fed. (preferably warm Seneca Farms Fried Chicken)
#2 - taking a dump in my bathtub
#3 - taking a dump on my bathroom floor
$3 - sleeping

Desert
#1 - cuddling with b-i-l in the bedroom
#2 - sleeping in the bedroom
#3 - complaining because b-i-l not in the bedroom cuddling
#4 - asking to be let in/out

Scampers (the 28 lb 'tuxedo panther')
#1 - sitting on my book when I try to read
#2 - sitting on my plate when I try to eat
#3 - sleeping on the clean laundry
#4 - attacking my nephew's feet.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Big Mick
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 02:24 PM

I have not read the whole thing, but a quick report on Riley J. Lane the Labradoodle's favorite things would look something like this:

1)    underwear, especially the crotch area.
2)    shoes and slippers
3)    food   
4)    Mary Lou
5)    Ciara
6)    taking a good dump
7)    digging a hole where he shouldn't
8)    chasing a cat, squirrel or bird
9)    playing with other dogs or kids
10)    flirting with the ladies at the hardware/building supply store
11)    me

I keep trying to warn him that if he persists in chewing up the underwear, She Who Can Kill With A Look is going to terminate him. He gives me this look that says, "Dad, I can suck up to her much better than you. You are in more danger than I am". I think the little bastard is right. BTW, Riles is now a little over 10 months old and weighs in at about 78 lbs/almost 6 stone.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: GUEST,ibo
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 02:08 PM

shitting,barking and biting

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 07:13 AM

Merlyn has decided that Harry's activity mat should be hers....all those dangling toys are just too much of a temptation for her!!

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Bee
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 06:51 AM

Well my own cat's favourite thing at the moment is definitely my sweater, but the favourite thing of the little feral (long story, may soon have relatively happy ending, I hope) I'm trying to do something about is my cat. She loves him. She comes (from wherever she goes at night) early in the morning and waits for him to come out. She follows him all day, lets him win the wrasslin' game every time, gazes admiringly when he climbs a tree, snuggles up to him when he lays in the sun (he has flea protection, but she doesn't appear to be flea infested). When I bring him in at dusk, she lays outside the patio door and cries for a while, then disappears for the night. I hope she has a safe place.

So far, I can't get closer to her than about a metre, if I sit very quiet she'll come that close. She's quite willing to sneak into the house if I leave the door open, and will steal food right from the kitchen - I think that's hopeful.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Llanfair
Date: 18 Sep 07 - 04:24 AM

Our pack, Montgomery,large border collie rescued from the Montgomeryshire dog pound, first language Welsh, Willow, lab x New Zealand Huntaway, and their pup, Spike, who is two now, are a grossly over-affectionate, greedy, people orientated bunch of dogs. The huntaway strain makes Spike and Willow rather noisy, although Monty is virtually silent.
They have absorbed the spirit of Benson, our "crumbhound", who died nearly 4 years ago, and, once the empty plates have been licked clean, hoover me over for stray crumbs. They will eat anything but salad, Monty's fond of bananas, Willow scours the worksurfaces for anything edible (calls herself a lady!!), and Spike nearly died at 4 weeks from inhaling his food.

Favourite things? Willow loves morning breath, I have to be sniffed carefully first thing. Spike loves his bone collection, and Monty's favourite thing is me, and licking the settee, leaving damp patches.

Monty is a seasoned train traveller. He's coming to the Scottish gathering with me next month. I get free rail travel because Jim works for railtrack, and Monty comes with me when I go a-travelling. He has a special rug on the seat, if there's spaces, and I take wipes to get the nose marks off the windows when we alight. He homes in on anyone with food, and gives them his special collie stare, the one they use to scare the sheep. He's got light tan eyes, so it's especially effective. We make a lot of friends that way!!!

It does him good to get away from the family now and again!

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Sep 07 - 09:33 AM

Rolling in dead things and barfing up hairballs,
Digging up flowers you've just planted in straight rows,
Filling the carpet with fleas that bite and sting,
These are a few of our pets' fav'rite things...

Shoving his nose in crotch of the pastor,
Giving the postman a bite which will fester,
Swallowing stuff like you gold wedding ring,
These are a few of our pets' fav'rite things...

(you can finish it)

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Sep 07 - 11:14 PM

My pit bull loves her life. I was driving home tonight and saw a similar-sized dog race from the side of the road into the street and toward the highway. I wonder if it is still alive now? My pit bull limped up my driveway 2 1/2 years ago, many scrapes and cuts, a toe torn off and broken teeth. I saw her from the kitchen window and stepped out on the porch. She limped over, I patted her head and she licked my hand, and stayed.

She rested in the corner near the garage all day, with a bowl of water nearby. At about six in the evening she limped into the front yard to find me planting stuff in a bed I'd been digging all day. She nudged my shoulder companionably and we sauntered to the back yard, where she still lives today, with a comfortable kennel in the garage. There is a gate and she and her companion wear collars that keep them in the yard. But this confinement on a 1/2 acre with lots of good walks and regular food and affection is far superior to being dead. The vet guessed that a week earlier she'd been struck a glancing blow and bounced off of the tire, hitting her face on the street at the same time, hence the broken teeth.

Yup. She loves her life.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 16 Sep 07 - 10:59 PM

Our dog, Juniper, loves her Pachachi. And, yes, I named it named after former US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council January-2004-president-of-the-month Adnan Pachachi. (Don't ask, because I'm not explaining.) She loves the rest of her toys, her many, many toys, as well. But I like saying "Pachachi," and I'm bigger than her, so that's what we play with most.

And socks. Clean ones. If we don't fold our clothes after taking them out of the dryer, and leave them in a laundry basket, she'll sometimes raid it while we sleep. My girlfriend has occasionally woken up with a dozen or so undamaged-but-slightly-drooly socks carefully laid out on her blanket, along the outline of her body.

Oh, and fuck cats.

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: CET
Date: 16 Sep 07 - 05:12 PM

Who knew there was a genre of cat and treadmill videos?

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Sep 07 - 05:11 PM

My son found these:

... I remembered you talking about putting Isis on the treadmill when I saw these videos: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=peLD2vlxRM0 and
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg1oszADX04

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Bee
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 11:59 PM

A cat I used to have (for 18 years) trated Valerian root the way other cats do catnip. I had to lock it up, as he'd go to great lengths to get hold of it, then would eat some, roll around in it, and go to sleep for hours. I was afraid he'd be ill - it's a strong herb.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: SharonA
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 10:33 PM

Do dogs react to catnip the way cats do?

My little guy Artie (cat) used to get stoned on a pain-relief ointment that my then-boyfriend used. It had a lot of aloe in it, but I don't know if it was just the aloe that turned Artie on, or the combination of chemicals and/or fragrances in the ointment. When my boyfriend he used this stuff, the cat would become VERY affectionate, his eyes would water, his mouth would drool copiously, and it was difficult to keep him away from the stuff.

Chester (cat) was drawn to the fragrance in Coast deodorant soap. He would lick the soap or, if he couldn't get to it, he'd fish the soap wrapper out of the trash and lick that. I had to give up using a scented toilet paper from the same manufacturer, because Chester would try to lick the TP and I was afraid he'd ingest it.

Maddie (cat) licks plastic grocery bags fresh from the store, but I think she's after the thin sheen of oil on the plastic rather than a fragrance (or else it just feels good to her tongue?).

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Sorcha
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 10:15 PM

I think so. I have ladies bedstraw/veg. rennet in my garden. I'm told it is a close relative of sweet woodruff, an ingredient in May Wine, and thus May Wine (the real thing) is banned in the US because woodruff is a mild hallucinogen. Bedstraw must be to..the dogs all love it.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 09:59 PM

We learned from experience that the common vegatable of cucumber or zucchini is poisonous and sometimes fatal to dogs. Their digestion reacts in bloody stool from as little as 6 small slices.

Yet imagine my surprise in finding a very silly wide eyed dog after one of the big laughing Jims sitting out to make a print came up missing. Imagine my surprise in finding them in the woods in the first place, and yes they are very blueing when the stem is bruised.
I'm glad the small one is the one missing. The big ones really are big.

Are dogs drawn to altered states?

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Becca72
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 06:37 PM

LOL BWL...
after having kittens (well, I didn't HAVE them) for the first time in, oh, 8 or so years I can't wait until mine will sleep through the night. They're a year and a half now and we're getting closer. Instead of being up every 2-3 hours they let me sleep until around 5:30am and then all bets are off.   The 10 year old cat plays with them just like he was the same age, until they do something sneaky like assault him from behind and then he screeches until I make them stop. Mamma's boy.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 06:11 PM

My cats don't like anything except each other. Though middle-aged (10 years old) they start each day with a fifteen or twenty minute sparring session as if they were still kittens. Then they lie around and do nothing until the next morning.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: wysiwyg
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 11:27 PM

F has accidentally discovered squeaky toys, for the first time in his sheltered life. They alternately fascinate, incite, and slay him. He played dead on his own several times today-- his way of showing ultimate submission-- because I think he thought it was a baby of some sort to be avoided.

I fear for his sanity.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Bee
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 07:51 AM

Ten month old Tommy's favourite thing lately appears to be falling out of spruce trees. He climbs too high, sits up there for a while, scaring the squirrels, then discovers coming down is a bit of an ordeal. So he launches himself downward, catching hold of random twigs and small branches on the way, with a crash at the end when he runs out of branches.

But Saturday he discovered that the aluminum pontoons under the wharf are not as safe for kitties. We didn't witness the event, but were alerted to its occurence when a dripping, soaked to the top of his head, very cross looking classic tabby came stalking across the deck and into the house. He obviously can swim. When husband and I were able to stop laughing, I dried him off with a towel - something he likes very much, as he seems to like being out in the rain, but gags after licking so much water out of his fur.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: SharonA
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 03:45 AM

My big orange longhair tabby cat Chester (dearly departed now) loved laps. Anytime I sat down, he was trying to curl up on my thighs.. including when I sat down on the toidie. No underwear-snuggler he, but Chester preferred a clothed lap to a bare one, so I had to be sure not to drop trou very far. (This had the added benefit of saving my thigh-skin from being scratched!) In the living room, I had a glider rocker with glider footstool; whenever I sat and while I was settling in, Chester would do a balancing act on the glider footstool, waiting for his chance to get on my lap and settle in himself.

My small black longhair cat Arthur (also gone over that rainbow bridge and sorely missed) loved to ride that glider footstool, and could somehow manage to curl up on it and keep it still while sleeping. He loved to ride on the dining-chair-on-casters too, and would beg me to spin the seat round and round till he got so dizzy he would fall off. Another of his favorites was the staircase: he would rocket up the 15 steps and keep going up after the last step, arcing into the room beyond, then he'd run around and fly back down 5 steps at a time. When he got really wound up, his timid "mew" would transform into a low, gutteral gurgle -- it was hard to believe that such a big sound could come out of such a little body.

Current kitty (shorthair torbie) Madison's favorite thing is to talk to me -- A LOT. Loudly and long, on all subjects. I don't call her Chatty Maddie for nuthin'. One favorite topic is Why Mom Should Leave the Water Fountain (a.k.a. The Bathroom Sink Faucet) On All the Time For Me. She also loves scratching posts, and goes through one a year on average (and I do mean "through"!). Thank goodness she's not as fond of the furniture! At night she curls up on the bed next to me; she's not a snuggler unless it's very cold, but she loves to tunnel under the blankets and create her own cave. For a fierce warrior princess, she's really quite companionable!

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: John Hardly
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 07:02 PM

"Lizzie loves treats - preferably Temptations."

My cats prefer the Four Tops.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Becca72
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 06:49 PM

LOL, Sins, my Mikey (the cat...just to be clear) likes to nap in my underpants while I'm on the toidie too...weird boys.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 10:37 AM

Alice loves men. She too attacked the mailman. He finally had to ring the bell and ask me to keep her in. She kept following him to his truck and getting in. She is very fond of mail arm pits too. It sometimes gets embarrassing.

She seems to enjoy auto-asphyxiation too. The vet can't explain it. Alice picks out a chair, rests her head on the bottom rung and leans until she chokes. I sometimes have to pull her off. She looks blissfully happy - go figure. Very strange cat.

Her kittens like warm clothes. Reports are that ALL of them follow their owners into the bathroom, leap into downed underwear and snuggle in for a nap.

Freddie loves Seamus' dry food. He prefers it to his own.
Lizzie loves treats - preferably Temptations.
Ed (Oedipus Rex) loves his Mommie - big surprise. He has mapped out a section of my bed that is off limits to any of the other cats.

Subject: DAVE'S SOCKS
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 10:17 AM

DAVE'S SOCKS

Our son David was in the Navy, stationed in Hawaii, and was still living there post-Navy when Faulkner joined our household. Yet his smell lingered in the house. F was intrigued every time we let him upstairs, by the smells in each of the kids' old rooms.

One day I took F on a road trip to go see Dave and his wife Jaclyn, who had moved to Ohio. F knew Dave was part of his pack right away. I had failed to take any of F's favorite toys-- tennis balls-- but Dave offered a pair of old athletic socks to ball up as a substitute. And he played with F, wrestling with him as only a very tall, BIG young man can do. He also took turns walking F, morning and night, and it was Dave who checked on "frantic Faulkner" when F would be left in my van while we dined out-- the "frantic" dog fast asleep under a shady tree and peacefully waiting for me, every time.

D&J were wonderful doggie hosts, providing special treats, a brush, etc.

Later that year we visited Dave and Jaclyn without F, on vacation, and came back smelling like Dave. "My Dave!" said Faulkner on our return.

Last year D&J came to stay with US, and Faulkner was beside himself. The SOCK man! Dave had forgotten the bag of old, dirty socks I'd requested-- he works on his feet and wears them out fast-- but he cheerfully let F have his way with him the whole visit. F was again transported, and paid a lot of attention to Dave's feet in particular.


We've just seen D&J on vacation, and Dave brought a whole grocery bag full of kilt socks to our campsite. Washed, but of course the smell is never really GONE. They were duly hauled home in our gear, and unpacked promptly as a pending project.

F is having a bit of a problem with fleas at the moment, and all I can do to help him now (he's already been treated) is distract him with high-energy play when the itching and biting start. I've not had much luck with the tennis balls, which he drops to scratch himself.... Then I remembered-- DAVE'S SOCKS.

(Since the first sock play I've learned the BEST thing to do with them is use them to wrap cheap tennis balls-- stuff the ball into the toe, twist the sock and turn it inside out over the ball, and repeat till I run out of sock. Then I sew the cuff shut tight with a drawstring. Now I have a ball that fits a bg dog's big mouth, that bounces erratically, and that SMELLS. And the thick cotton wrap keeps F's teeth from puncturing and ruining the ball. He can rip fabric layer after layer, and get months use out of one old ball and sock before I have to add a fresh sock.)

F took one sniff of that sock as I moved from bag to recliner to sew it around a fraying ball. HAPPY???? "Mary's sock smell! DAVE's sock smell! Ball smell! MINE! Catch?!?!?!?"

I just finished the sewing ("is this DAVE?") and a round of play with F. He's happily crashed out waiting for the next round. I know some of that growling and barking was release of flea frustration. And I have a LOT of socks left to soothe him as flea treatment takes hold.

THANKS, DAVE! (And Jaclyn, who I am sure had something to do with Dave remembering.)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Helen
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 06:28 PM

Thanks for that, Gargoyle. That's some dog you've got.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 03:51 PM

Attacking the Mail Delivery - once the worker climbed the street light.

Ran out open door - Mail will no be delivered with open door any more.

Broke through six inch wide 3/4 inch thick boards of side gate. Inch thick marine plywood is now barrier before gate.

Broke through window screen....three times

Broke through glass window

In the doggy pokey at least six times.

Registered with city as

Loveliest, gentilest, 90 pound American RedNose Terrier you can imagine - until it smells the mailman. I think he likes the pepper spray. Loosing his nuts.... did not weaken his will.... one bite.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: wysiwyg
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 09:43 AM

Oh no-- as of this AM the leaping has started. She's now leaping in mid-air from spot to spot, knocking off things at the take-off and the landing. Almost took my coffee off this time. Next she'll be typingggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg [swat!]

Must get Crazy Glue....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: GUEST,ibo
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 03:22 PM

shitting and biting seem to be my dogs favourite

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Greg B
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 01:57 PM

Boots the cat has fallen in love with a pair of wool socks.

When we leave the house, he opens the drawer in which they reside,
and apparently carries them through the house, depositing them
randomly somewhere. This can happen in as little as two minutes.

If we're here, he feigns no interest. You can toss those socks,
shake them in his face, drop them on them--- he's indifferent.

Until we leave. Then he opens the drawer, finds this particular
pair of socks, and puts them somewhere.

Go figure.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: HouseCat
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 01:43 PM

My cat Moonpie's favorite toy is the plastic hospital bracelet I wore home after my hysterectomy.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 01:33 PM

My dog Gromit has become a lobbyist. Her main concern is her walk in the park.

Subject: RE: BS: Our pets favorite things
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 01:11 PM

Isis came to us a seriously-overweight, verging-on-diabetic adult cat. She had been one of 17 cats in a household; her elderly owner died and the lady's vet took on the task of placing the cats.

The lady's cats had been fed via shared dishes kept constantly stocked with dry food. Isis must have had an anxiety disorder in that setting and grazed constantly; by the time of her rescue she was a behemoth. Several months into the vet's diet, at the time we adopted her she was a 17-pound cat hiding a small, 5-pound cat's body. Of course our adoption orders were to shrink her.

First she showed the beginnings of a neck. Next the pads of fat left the base of her tail, and soon her natural rat tail was visible. The next area we noted was shoulder blades discernible under the thick fat that still remained. Next it was hips-- she actually had two of them, not a massive monohip.

She began to look more like a cat, and less like an overblown white football.

She's always been calm and friendly, here. She and Atticus slept together from the third day she was here, and he is kind enough to wash her (it takes hours). She even gives him a lick or two to start him off. :~) He allows her to use him as a pillow so that her shape (and the internal pressure of the fat) don't cause her to die from sleep apnea.

Her program is that she is on reduced rations (as directed) for several months at a time; when we notice the new body parts emerging, we increase the ration fractionally so that she gets a pause for maintenance. This allows her skin to shrink as she goes, as much as possible. It also allows her to re-orient her jumps, etc. as her gravity and center of gravity change. During maintenance, she can regroup and feel relatively secure physicially.


And now on to the favorite thing:

This week she apparently discovered that her weight had come down to a notable degree: she's suddenly to be found in areas she could never access before, sleeping like a normal cat in bizarre locations as they love to do. Open a closet-- there she is on a shelf. Or on top of the mess piled on the laundry room counter-- fast sleep. She may have been able to climb up on things to get to them before, but getting down would have been a nightmare.

She also has begun to try to take over Atticus' alternate napping spots-- the places he sleeps when he's on break from Isis-washing. One is the treadmill. It was funny to see Atticus splayed out there, asleep, in front of the fan-- a real athletic workout there. It's funnier to see Isis rolling over and over in the same spot, reveling in being able to roll over for the first time in some years-- showing off each time we pass by.

Maybe I'll turn that treadmill on for her sometime. :~)

~Susan