BS: Beastly calls

Subject: BS: Beastly calls
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 02:22 PM

This might be a bona fide music thread, but I don't want to offend the more delicate constitutions that never read the BS threads ;o)... anyway, I'm writing a song about calling animals and I'm sure some of you strange folks will be able to help. When I was a kid in the north of England (perhaps it occurs elsewhere) we used to call cows to milking by shouting 'cush' and pigs to the slop by calling "giss-giss-giss' ... what words are used elsewhere?

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Amos
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 02:37 PM

Hog-calling in the Eastern US mountains traditionally goes "SooooooWEEEEeeeeee!!!!".

Cows are often called by "Here, Bossie". Cats always respond to "Pisssssywisssssysssssss". Dunno why.

I have never called a Tasmanian devil, famous for looking mean and smelling worse. Nor a galah-bird.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 02:43 PM

ALL our animals respond to "FOOOOOOO-OOOD!" *grin*

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 02:55 PM

Around here we call moose. You go out into moose habitat and say loudly, "Here, moosey, moosey, moosey." Repeat that until one comes.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 03:14 PM

We always called 'here, kitty, kitty'... For horses and dogs we had separate whistles. For horses, it was kind of like 'pee ur, pee ur, pee ur'; for dogs 'wheet, wheet, wheet.'

I do hope this helps.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Metchosin
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 03:32 PM

well, you can call small birds in the forest to come down from the canopy, closer to the ground, for a better identification by pishing. Pish Pish Pish Pish Pish! Aparently something about the call makes them curious, perhaps it sounds like a bird in distress, but you would have to ask a proper Birder.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 04:52 PM

We had peacocks when I was growing up. I used to call to them by imitating their call: click & scroll down.

Our cats come to a higher pitched, rapid trillling of kitteekitteekittee...this makes our dog howl and is quite amusing. We also call them by name, using a high-pitched, singsong voice. And, I have a couple of them who like to come when I put my tongue against and kind of between my front teeth and make a rapid series of little "clicks." It's ahrd to describe!:-)

They all, dog included, come to the sound of a can, the refrigerator, and/or other foodstuffs being opened!

Horses came to a whistle. Called to my cockatiel with an all out wolf whistle, which he'd then copy.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 05:50 PM

of course there is always "pussy pussy ..wherefore art thou?"

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 09:57 PM

Say, noddy, that always gets my face slapped...

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 10:53 PM

We do a high pitched "kit kit kit" with names for the cats, just a generic "gillieanniemax" for the dogs.
sometimes that can be 'gillieanniemaxtajnuncachance' depending on who is here.....

Dogs always come to either 'rag battle (bag rattle) or the sound of the toaster so they can get their 'corners'.....four corners on a piece of toast...one for each of them and one for us....

dogs also come to the 'bowl rattle' when one steel bowl rattles against another...Feeding Frenzy Time....

Crazee animals run my life.....(2 legged animals too.....)

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: LadyJean
Date: 12 Nov 03 - 11:43 PM

As any fan of P.G Wodehouse's Blandings Castle stories will tell you, the best way to summon a pig is to shout "Pig Hoooey!"
My cats come to Fitz Fitz Fitz Fitz Fitz, and bit bit bit, itty bitty bit. Kitty kitty works well too.
I was told by a biology teacher in high school that if you gave a cat a name with an s or z in it the cat would learn his or her name, and come to it. She gave us Solomon who did indeed know his name and come to it.
Mother called our cats with a special whistle, one high one low. One summer a mockingbird picked up the whistle, and drove our poor dumb floof cat crazy.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 04:00 AM

My granfer used to call his cows in with 'coo-up' and clanging a galvanized bucket with his blackthorn stick. It never worked when we used the enamel bucket - something about the pitch they didn't recognise.

The pig was a nosy little thing and bounded up to the gate if you so much as stuck your foot round the corner of the barn. Of course, as time went on, he couldn't bound so well and eventually just took to lying against the gate with his snout pressed against the bottom.

The cats (well the 2 that aren't deaf) respond to a high pitched 'come on then' at feeding time. The deaf one has to have a tin of food practically wafted under his nose. One of them can hear a crisp packet being opened from 3 rooms away. She has been know to respond to the opening of an envelope because it sounded like a crisp packet.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Gurney
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 04:13 AM

WE feed a stray cat that calls US! Loudest bloody cat I ever heard, including Siamese and Persians.
I don't know why anyone bothers naming a domestic cat, they dont answer much anyway, unless they want to.
Pigpigpigpigpigpigpig works for, well, pigs. Or anything else that sounds like food.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: JennyO
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:01 AM

My cat always comes when I call her name, if she is within earshot. Her name is Onyx, which does have that s sound at the end, so maybe what LadyJean said is true.

Our previous cat, Fluffy, was very good at ignoring us, unless he could hear a tapping on his food bowl.

Jenny

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Santa
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:30 AM

We name cats for the same reason we name kids - it's easier when we are talking about them, not to them.

So "Luke" is better than "that black lump asleep over there"
"Mishka" is shorter than "that spawn-of-Satan tortoiseshell"
"Edain" is shorter than "you know, the red-headed one in the black T-shirt"

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: SueB
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 12:07 PM

The horses here come running to the sound of the metal barn door being slid open. The catfish rise to the surface when you drive up to the south side of the pond on a four-wheeler, but not when you're in the car or the truck - needs to be early summer evening for this to work. The ducks don't care if you arrive by truck, car, 4-wheeler or foot - they listen for the door of the duck shed being opened and the lid coming off the metal can containing the corn. The cats don't care for vowel sounds - you can call pusspusspuss or pisspisspiss, it's all the same to them. The dogs repond to any two-toned sound as long as the first tone is high and the second low, so they respond to
"Break-fast" and "Din-ner" or "Yoo-hoo" or any two-note whistle where the first note is a third above the second note. Hope this helps?

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 12:35 PM

With sheep it's usually "Darling, darling, come over here, I've got my Velcro gloves on !"

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Metchosin
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 01:13 PM

Well, because there was initial concern about somehow offending delicate constitutions and consequently putting this thread below the salt, not to disappoint, my husband would definitely come if I were to yell "Give it to me big boy!"....sorry.....couldn't resist.

I certainly know how to make him disappear, all I have to say is "its a small job, it will only take 15 minutes".............

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 04:37 PM

Aren't the two usually sequential?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 05:04 PM

My cats have always preferred names with a hiSSy sound in them such as Sasheen. They seem to also like a "k" sound.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 05:38 PM

Our cats respond to A) the sound of the refrigerator door opening B) the sound of a can opener C) the word "milk". Beyond that, their response to any attempt to call them is to turn their heads and go, "What? Surely you're not calling me."

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Allan C.
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 05:52 PM

Here is where you can find a related thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 06:18 PM

Cows love machines of all kinds and vehicles with wheels like bikes. The sound of a machine brings them running. I once saw a group of farmers standing around the back of a tray-truck talking while a dozen or so cows were peering into the motor at the front where the bonnet had been raised. Might be something to do with Scottish ancestry if you can believe George Macdonald Fraser. There's also Star Trek's Scotty of course.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Gareth
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 07:00 PM

Well I had a little Terrier once that would react to the sound of a sweet (Trs = Candy) wrapper at 50 yards.

Dave - Why do you Home County Merchants have to make things complicated - Do ewe mean I have to chat them up first ?

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 07:12 PM

I'm pleased to learn that cats seem to respond to names that have "S" sounds in them.   Maybe I'll name the next one that shows up "Sorry-ass-sack-of-shit" and see if it comes when called.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Cluin
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:03 PM

Call the sheep in with a loud nasal "LA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NANAAAAA!"

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Strupag
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 09:32 PM

In Raasay (a wee island off Skye) it's WINEEWINEEWINEEWINEEWINEE!
I don't know what Winnie has to do with it!

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: NicoleC
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 10:09 PM

Pink the cat knows her name very well, but only comes if she feels like it.

She comes running at the sound of a fridge door, the particular cabinet door where her food is, the front foor, the back door, or the sound of the laptop turning on because it means she gets to sit in my lap while I check the email...

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: GUEST,Ely
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 10:11 PM

I find cats always respond to "kissing" noises (so do most dogs). I caught myself trying to distract a friend's toddler once by "kissing" at him and calling his name, as if he were a pet.

Aside from that, I once had a guinea pig that I swear could hear a produce drawer open in China, and my current dog can distinguish between the sounds of different kinds of food wrapping (she'll come running for ones that enclose promising foods but ignores the ones that she knows I won't share with her).

Also, although this isn't a sound, my dear old cat would come running when she smelled pancakes. LOVED pancakes. We always saved the little baked batter-dribbles just for her (we still call them "Razz cakes" in her memory).

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: Cluin
Date: 13 Nov 03 - 10:18 PM

That's instinct, Ely. The kissing sound resembles the squeak of a dying mouse.

Subject: RE: BS: Beastly calls
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 14 Nov 03 - 03:00 AM

Sheepdog [Scottish!] "C'min-ahent!" or "sss-gae-bye!"
Cats [again Scottish---] "chee-chee-chee-chee" (hence the common Ayrshire petname "cheetie-cat"!)
Scottish kye [coos]"c'way here" or maybe it's "quey-here!"
Hens "chook-chook-chook-chook!" (again, hence the common Ayrshire petname "chookie hen"...)Sometimes varied as "bud-bud-bud-bud!"
Pigeons "pzzz-pzzzz-pzzzz-pzzzz!"
Deer eating kale in the yaird-"c'm'ere ya bas!!"