they wake me up when it's time for their nice hot breakfast in the morning (5:00 a.m. isn't so early human. WHY are you wasting time sleeping?)

they demand smooches when they feel the need for attention (a little to the left human, there's a head feather i can't quite reach myself)

they scatter seeds on the floor every day so i'll have something to clean up when i get home from work.. (isn't it sweet how she runs the vacuum cleaner around like that? doesn't she look funny?)




do you have pets and if so have they trained you too?

parakeets and cockatiels. very sweet, maybe a bit spoiled but i figure heck it's hard being a captive when you were designed to fly around freely...

my birdies are very food driven. snack time occurs several times a day and if a transgress in some way (read: leave them with the petsitter for days at a time) i have to bribe my way back into their good graces.

it's a trip all right

but PERFECTLY normal i'm sure.

XxAxX said:

trust me, as a petsitter, i can tell you - they are JUST FINE while we take care of them, they even like the change of pace. they're just milking you for all it's worth when you get back!

IrresistibleB1tch said:

well that's good to know! they act all wounded when i come home and let them out of the cage to fly around. sometimes, if i've been gone for a long time i get the 'feather butt view' where one or another of them turns its back and displays its butt to me rather pointedly

this thread came out because my youngest cockatiel took a while to learn how to find the food cup when he was loose in the room. he'd call and call and call and i made a habit of going over to give him a kiss and a bite of millet.

NOW he sees me coming and flies over to a particular perch and stands there calling. it's understood i will drop what i'm doing to scratch his feathers. i'm very well trained.


he's calling now

IrresistibleB1tch said:

That is so true!. My best friend and I owned a couple of cats together and I let her keep them when I moved. They know they can get her to react like a trained pet at their every meow. In the mornings they will paw her and cry and she'll get up at ridiculous hours to entertain their hunger. They are big fatsos But when I housesit, I sleep and they get fed on my schedule. They never bother me in the morning, they know it won't work. Mind you, we're talking about getting up at 5 vs 8 or 9. Those cats get wet food every night and have dry food in the bowl all night. They are crying in the AM for the wet food. nah, eat your dry food and when I've gotten my sleep, then I'll indulge you

Here they are:

Steadwood said:

budgies are funny! i recommend having several of these guys because in a flock situation they're cocky and like a small circus.

one of mine gently, yet firmly, wakes me at eight a.m. on the weekends. i don't know how he knows what time it is but right at 8:00 he starts talking and chirping, which turns into scolding if i don't get out of bed...

SpookyElectricSmackdown said:

awwww animals are much smarter than we give them credit for.

if i ever win the lottery i'm going to start a legal trust fund to enact legislation to change the legal status of animals from 'chattel' (possessions) to that of intellignet beings.

XxAxX said:

(as I was trying to say before my internet connection went down)

Sounds like a right little speaking clock...

My Dad used to have a menagere (sp)

He had Budgies...Parrots..Parrakeets...Rabbits...Ducks...Geese...Hens and even a Turkey

Though it was hard to get the ducks, geese, hens, rabbits and turkey to speak ..


He once entered a budgie into the novice class at the local bird show

...It was the only one in it's class

...It came second... ....cute







forgotten how to laugh edit...
[Edited 7/6/05 17:37pm]
[Edited 7/6/05 17:38pm]

Steadwood said:

oo lovely! that's another thing i'd like to do - buy a hobby farm and adopt homeless animals. i think pygmy goats are sweet, dogs, cats, horses, cows, birds. dromedaries - everyone would be welcome.


i have a knack with animals. it's humans i have trouble bonding with...

XxAxX said:

Awwww..... I used to have a rabbit outfit...

..I used to love going to the animals....to this day I still don't know why people are afraid of geese

Steadwood said:

a rabbit suit? you're welcome too ducks, geese, pigs, horses they all rock. geese can be scary though. i volunteered at athe raptor center for a while. rooms full of hawks, owls, eagles even - but the fiercest creature of allw ere the geese. everyone else was afraid when i entered to clean their rooms but the geese would spread out their wings, hiss then rush at me.

4 horses
2 dogs
2 cats

and fishys


I AM THEIR trainer ...dangit

Mach said:

you tell em!

My one cat has me trained to get up by meowing. She can have all she wants..but what she wants the most is for me to get the hell up!

My dog needs to find new training techniques. She used to wake her human whenever she woke up feeling hungry (5am, 6am). The human used to oblige until one day the dog woke her up at 4am for food. "Enough" cried the human "I can take no more". She refused to get out of bed " " thought the dog ... I've pushed too far. Dog now gets fed after 8am every morning. Dog not happy; human getting more sleep.

My dog barks his fool head off whenever somebody leaves so we have learned to trick him when we leave. Somebody has to take him outside and give him a treat or I have to wrestle with him when my mom leaves for her walks (she pretends she is hanging out in the garage, using the exercise bike or ironing as she oft does but she really slips out the back gate). When it gets to be 5ish, he starts really bothering me or my mom because he knows it's his dinnertime! And if we leave him outside for too long he starts to bark like an ass to be let back in. After that he hangs around in the kitchen because it's time for his medicine (which he LOVES because it's wrapped in a piece of bread) and after that he hangs around more to get pieces of lettuce, his favorite food. Around 9ish he starts hanging around the bathroom because he knows it's time for his teeth to be brushed. The poor thing's life revolves around food. When we got him, he was uber fat but has lost 15 lbs from a strict diet.

This is funny... we sometimes put him in the garage when we leave. Our neighbor also has a dog named Lulu (chow mix) and she is allowed to wander the neighborhood leashless and ownerless. She and my dog hate each other! I guess she found my dog barking in the garage and she started CHEWING ON THE GARAGE DOORS to get to him. Here is proof:

i'm detecting a pattern. i think the critters are in league to control us

If I giggle at my dog cos I think she's funny when we're out walking, she goes bonkers... trying to jump at me, tackle me, just gets plain So I have to giggle quietly

My one cat Mim has trained me to open my closet doors, he needs to look for monsters in there Either that or he's looking for the best place to sleep, it's different each day.

If the bottom is visible in either of the two cat food bowls, the other cat Mini-Man gets very upset. I immediately have to fill them up again.


I swear, pets and their quirks

every night at exactly 9:00, my cat hohner immediately starts pestering me to play with 'im. he knows that i start gettin ready for bed right around that time on weeknights too, so it's perfect timing. also he lets me know that i gotta clean out his litterbox after he's taken a poo. he'll come outta the bathroom meowing like "umm, my toilet's all stinky, go clean it!"

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

My cats do that too, like they'll hang out outside the bathroom but not go in and if I approach the door they're meowing like "yeah momma, fix that wouldya "

Forgot about something funny I did a while back... I brought home a bag of Royal Canin cat food from a work gig and filled up the cats' bowls with it (instead of their regular Iams food), and they went up to it and did the following:

1.

2.

3. Sniffed it

4. Started scratching on the floor like they'd taken a crap there! They were like "mommy, you put poo in our bowls!"

Natsume said:

that dog is devilish

Christopher said:

at least she does not demand party ice in her bowl

Natsume said:

i will teach her to chew away doors and other materials next

Christopher said:

She better stay away from my foot long double ended dildo

Natsume said:

its to late...she bit the end off and shes working on your collection of jellies next

Christopher said: