Quirks

[enginerd]

The boards are too quiet, so here's an attempt to liven things up. Let's start listing out some of our pup's quirks. We all know they have enough of them, with some making them more loveable and some testing the limits of that love . I'll start off with a few for the dynamic duo, and there is plenty more where these come from.

Chuck's happy rub: After every meal and walk, Chuck will rub the sides of his head on things for a good 2 or 3 minutes. Indoors it is usually the couch/loveseat. Outdoors it is usually the one section of chain link fence, which almost makes as good of a sound as when he decides to do it on the deck railing... thunk... thunk... thunk.

Ripley eating habits: As a puppy she refused to eat unless she could work for her food (do tricks and be fed by hand or use one of the food dispensing toys). Now she's on a raw diet (helped immensely with her stomach issues) but still isn't thrilled about the food just sitting there and doing nothing. She'll lay on the floor until Chuck almost finishes his and will then get up and walk over and start taking the worlds smallest bites of food right as he finishes so that he can stand there and stare at her while she eats. If he's not around she'll wait until you put it down and eat normally.

The excited yip of death: Both dogs when excited (rabbits playing in front yard, etc) will make this high pitch yipping sound that sounds like they are dying. The same sound is sometimes made when they are happy to go outside and start zooming. A few folks have heard it and though one of them hurt themselves badly... nope, joy just sounds like imminent death.

[Cindy]

I think one of Jill's funniest habits has to do with her sock fetish. Every morning after she comes inside after breakfast, she trots to the bedroom and rummages around the laundry basket. She then crams her mouth full of all the dirty socks she can fit - usually only 2. Then she happily trots out the the living room, jumps up on the couch, and uses the dirty socks as a pillow. She gets pretty upset if we actually remember to close the closet door so she can't get in there. I've woken up in the middle of the night to her poking at the closet door (it's a bi fold) trying to get it open. Sometimes she likes to take some dirty socks to bed with her. Guess I should be glad it's not my underwear!!!

Kayla likes to have her face cleaned. She will walk over to Jill and hold her head up so Jill will start sniffing and then licking her mouth. She does this all over her head and then Kayla just walks away - no thank you or anything! Spoiled little dog.

[Annie'sRebecca]

Annie has a dirty sock fetish, also! I guess she thinks they smell good? Anyway, she'll carry them outside, so I have to go pick them all up before I do laundry. When she gets really excited that someone comes over, she'll try and fit as many dirty socks and toys into her mouth as she can....her record is three dirty socks and two toys. I don't know how she did it!
After he has his supper every night, Rowdy picks up his favorite toy elephant and walks around the house whining. He tries out all the dog beds and couches in the house, and then usually stands in front of the bedroom door whining, with his elephant in his mouth. This is his hint to me that he is ready for bed, and please open the door so he can lay on the big bed .

[AuntieMom]

Scout: Opens kitchen cabinets. We keep non-food items down low and have a child lock on the cabinet with the trash.

Trapper: Eats Kleenex and paper towels.

Kallie: Sits politely at the door when it is time to go outside. I know, really. How quirky can one Brittany be?

CharLee: Still does not know she is blind. Insists on being leader of the pack on walks…. She will body check the other dogs trying to get ahead of them. She also steals socks from the laundry basket. Will shred them to bits if she is not caught. If she is caught, she drops the sock and walks off as if someone else left the sock there.

[Lisa]

Buster: Mostly, he's just too smart for his own good. He opens cabinets, unzips bags, opens doors, etc. His cutest quirk, though is that he doesn't like to be wet. If he gets rained on or goes outside and the sprinkler is running, then when he comes back in, he runs to the bathroom and stands next to the counter where my hairdryer is...waiting patiently for me to come blow dry him. As I blow dry him, he squirms in joy until I tell him he's done, then he runs to his kennel.

Madi: When she decides it's dinner time, she will go in to the kitchen and start digging at the tile in front of the pantry, until I either give in and feed her, or make her stop.

Britty: She's practically perfect! Her biggest quirk is that she won't eat unless I put "something" on her food. It can be anything, a teeny, tiny bit of cheese, a bit of canned food, bacon bits...just something "special" on top of her food. In a pinch, I used "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spray. She will stand and stare at her bowl and then stare at me until she gets her special something on the food, then she'll go eat, but not before.

[MaggieRocks]

Emma: if left alone in the house, will always relocate something from the kitchen to the bedroom-usually a pack of hamburger rolls, if available.

Maggie: likes to have her butt smacked! When I come home, she will walk halfway between my legs, and I have to bend over and smack her butt, which is wagging furiously!

[rtropeano]

When I give Daisy a bone or bully stick she'll run around and cry and yip and try to hide it. She's a nut case - she's also afraid of flies - if she sees one inside, she'll run away from it and hide in the bathtub.

What a crazy mutt!
Rose

[Sandy1999]

What's with Brittanies and socks?! and tissues?!
Rusty's quirks include
- Dirty socks - he'll take them from the hamper, run around and then lay down with them under his nose. My husband also tosses him his dirty tube socks after a workout - those are special. Rusty knows the word 'socks' - if husband is watching TV and I say 'get socks', Rusty will gently nibble the sock at the toe and then pull it right off.
- Kleenex - he noses the top of the bathroom garbage pail up and goes to town....and he goes through all jeans pockets because he usually finds one there. You could be sitting and WEARING the jeans, and he'll stick his nose in the pocket.
- Shopping bags - has to stick his head into every grocery sack to see what's in there
- Purses - I have to have guests put their purses out of reach because he goes through them and steals things
- 10 o'clock bedtime. He let's you know at 10 that he wants to go to sleep and would like you to join him on the bed. After a while, he'll sigh and just go into bed himself
- Taps for attention. Will tap his food bowl (clangs the raised bowl over and over), taps you, taps the floor - for whatever reason he needs your attention - basically a lot of the time - he knows exactly how to get what he wants
- Likes to walk in front of you - he runs to get in front of where you are walking and if not sure which direction you're going, will stop short to look back over his shoulder. He gets the stern 'Rusty I am going to walk right over you if you don't move'
- Doesn't like me to use my laptop on the couch - he taps me and sits next to me staring about 6 inches from my face - he doesn't like the computer getting the attention
- Shoes.......Every single day he grabs a shoe in his mouth when me or my husband come in the front door - but he's never chewed the. I just don't always have both shoes in the same place when I need them.
- Zoomies after a bath and dries off on the bed comforter
- Rubbing face on carpet and couches - I swear he prefers the good wool oriental carpets
- Clingy when tired or scared (i.e. scared of bees) - he crawls his 60 pounds up into my lap
- Licks my husband but not me - he'll sit on the couch and lick my husbands arm over and over - we call him an enthusiastic licker.

There's probably more....he is very smart and he likes to do certain things on a time schedule. He is always funny and interactive.

[enginerd]

Ripley has a thing for socks too! She shreds them pretty quickly though, so it's a no no

Chuck will also grab a shoe (never chews) usually a drive by as part of an excited zoom. He generally drops them in a random location later for one of us to trip on. He has been known to go get a shoe and drop it in front of one of us. I think he has figured out that shoes on = outside time.

Chuck does a similar bed-time routine too. He'll nap on the couch until and dart of down the hall everytime I get up. When I go to brush my teeth he gives one excited spin and then trots off to bed to wait. He then plops on the middle of my stomach and falls asleep in 2 seconds (I generally give in an let him chill for a bit, then he gets knudged awake and groggily trudges over to his

Ripley is also a purse thief (installed hooks by the door for guests now).

Hmmm... other quirks...

Chuck won't play fetch to save his life (or earn chicken), but LOVES to chase and then shred sticks. The bigger the better. 14' branch is the largest he has drug across the yard and last fall managed to unstack our entire woodpile... dragging those logs all over the yard.

Ripley is a digger, particulary in water (water dishes, kiddie pools, creeks, mud puddles). She'll dig in a kiddie pool until she can't breath or she runs out of water. 15 minutes is her record... and at one Brittany meetup prompted one of the other pup parents to ask us, "What is wrong with her?" We don't know... sigh.

Chuck has figured out that I'm the messiest eater. He spends dinner laying under my chair

Ripley the shredder still has her magic dragon that she sleeps with every night. In the morning she gets it out of her bed and drops it in the kitchen for us to put away (she will shred it if not sleepy... puff has a few stitches from that lesson).

[Lisa]

Goodness - these guys all have such personalities!

Buster can be added to the list of purse stealers. He will carry them off to his crate, unzip them, and pull everything out...and eat anything remotely edible.

Buster takes anything he wants as "his" to his crate. If he's not actually going in to his crate and just wants to protect the item, he'll drop it in his crate, back out, and then push the door shut. He hasn't figured out how to latch it yet! Then, when he wants his item, he'll go back to his crate, hook his nails in the door, and pull it open again.

Bed time....ah...that's a routine all it's own. Buster puts himself to bed each night around 10 pm. I'm a night owl, but if I haven't come to bed by midnight, he'll get out of his crate, and lay in the hallway just outside the bedroom, and stare at me until I tell him I'm coming. Madi usually crashes out wherever I am...I then have to either wake her and help her to bed, or I usually just go the easier route and pick her up and carry her to my bed. She will crack an eye open as I pick her up, and then go back to sleep. Britty...I usually have to FIND her first, then tell her it's bed time, and she'll trot in to the bedroom and claim her pillow on my bed.

Britty is obsessed with my bathtub. Any time I go in to my bathroom for any reason, she follows me in and jumps in the tub and lays down for however long I'm in there. I finally gave in and put a couple of bath mats in the bottom of the tub for her to lay on.

Madi...I'm not sure how much of her behavior is quirks and how much is just general senility. If she can't find me in the house, she will wander down the hallways, snuffing under each door until I either wave at her or she figures out which door I'm behind. She loves her crate, and will lay in it when she needs someplace to settle...except when I'm in the shower. Then, she insists on laying in Britty's crate...but that's the ONLY time she lays in Britty's crate. I have no idea why!

[Dakota]

Ranger likes warm clothes out of the dryer, he will flip the laundry basket over and roll all around in the warm clothes. If the clothes are not warm he will walk over find they aren't warm and leaves them alone.

Dakota will stomp her feet when she wants something, she is the boss of all of us.

Kara our foster always has to have a toy in her mouth, she reluctantly drops it at dinner time, but if it just a treat she will eat the treat with the toy still in her mouth....

[mkilcz]

Rocket and Jack both have a few worth mentioning....
Rocket despises pillows. He will toss all throw pillows to the floor if he wants to lay on the sofa, and then look at me as if to say "There! NOW I can lie down!" I think that he thinks I put the pillows there just to annoy him. Rocket hates to have his toenails clipped, and will hide if I even open they drawer where the clippers are kept. There are other things in the drawer too, but I guess he figures it's better to be safe, just in case! Rocket steals empty plastic bottles out of the recycling bin to play with and he also loves bubbles... Rocket will chase and pop them forever. We buy bubbles just for him! When my daughter was little, he would eat the noses (only the noses) off of her Care Bears. Oh, and he loves raw pasta... he will actually drool for uncooked spaghetti.
Jack's big thing is his obsession with balls. His biggest dilemma in life occurs when he already has one ball in his mouth and then notices another one, and can't possibly fit both in at the same time. So funny to watch! Jack loves belly rubs to the point of being obnoxious and will grunt his displeasure when it's over. Jack can also open the slider and let himself out, a skill that I don't really appreciate much as he doesn't know how to close the door behind him, lol. My kids have told me that on nights when I have to teach a class and get home late, Jack keeps a vigil by the window. They've even texted me pictures of him manning his post. Poor guy, luckily its only a few times a month. Jack can also catch a biscuit if you put it on the end oh his nose (and Rocket can't!).
Honestly, both of them just have such unique personalities, as did our previous brittany, and as do they all. They are constantly providing us with love and laughter, which definitely makes the puking under the bed at 2am, the rolling in dead stuff, and the muddy footprints all over the house easier to swallow!

[enginerd]

Jack can also open the slider and let himself out, a skill that I don't really appreciate much as he doesn't know how to close the door behind him, lol.

If it's just the screen slider (and if it isn't... WOW... that's just scary) then an solution is to install a retractable closeline on the screen door and an eyelet/hook on the doorjamb. The only way we can tell when Ripley has opened the door (she's a stealthy one) is when we hear the slam of the closeline cleaning up her escape hatch. I'd love to take credit for the idea, but I think the previous owner of our place used it to keep the door closed after her kids.

[dmedric]

Had to laugh about the door opening trick. Cooper knows how to open doors with flat, lever style handles. Thank goodness our house is old enough that the only door that has that type of handle is the patio door leading to the fenced back yard (we installed new patio doors a few years ago). The best part is that the door opens inward, so he can let himself in the house, but not out of the house. Of course, my complaint is the same -- he doesn't know how to close the door behind him .

[mkilcz]

Actually, we can't even have a screen on the deck slider. They try to paw it like they do the regular door, and it doesn't take long before its all torn to shreds. Jack just knows how to jump up and push the door hand just right to push it open. He needs a running start for momentum though. Unfortunately, I've come home more than once to find the door wide open and totally oblivious teenage children looking at me like "What?" Argh!!