What are your dog's special quirks?

[Pickles89]

Specific to them? My Border Collie Skye is such a weirdo. A loveable one, but definitely a weirdo! Some of the things she does:

When she has a drink, she paces her right paw up and down. I think instinctive behaviour from her puppyhood when she was nursing from her mum!
When she's finished her kibble and it's time for her biscuits, she'll follow you to the dog treat cupboard pawing your heels like a kitten with a ball of wool.
She'll scratch at the door to go out, and when you go and open it she'll change her mind and turn away.
When she is outside, she'll curl up in a tiny tight ball on the grass, conserving her last hint of body heat, instead of going in her nice kennel with the mattress and thick fleecey blanket. She's also welcome to come in the house whenever she wants, she just often prefers to suffer alone out in the cold/dark/wet.
She'll affectionately bite your nose, and when you exclaim in pain, bite it again, by way of apology. She's 9 now and has never learned to, you know, just stop biting in the first place!
If a dog runs up to her suggesting they play, she'll either ignore or acts like she's afraid of them, but when a dog is having a good time with another dog or its owner she'll bound up and intrude!
When she's having a false pregnancy she'll abandon her nice comfy dog bed and squeeze in the tiny gap behind the sofa - what better place to have puppies than a hardwood floor in a narrow space with no bedding or access to water?! She'll also try to squeeze down badger holes in that mode as well. I think the badgers would be pretty pissed off to find she'd turned their sett into a nursery!
She'll evade the towel but rub against the wall when she's wet instead. Aaahh, that highly absorbent painted stonework.
She's so entirely spoiled she always gets a present whenever we have any. She knows what to expect and lies down and whines at us as soon as we've finished singing Happy Birthday.

I just love her, she's the best! What makes your pup stand out from the crowd?

@Bashfulinseduary where do you live? Are the alligators ever dangerous/ aggressive?

My dog moans and groans at me if I pick her up, cuddle her or if she wants something. I don't really know if it's a get off signal or if she likes it. She also loves being under the covers so will come and sit by your head until you lift the quilt for her so she can get in. Then she wriggles all night so by about 4am she's made it to the bottom of the bed so she comes back up to the top and asks to get under again hence why I'm up now!

@Burnamer, we're in Florida, close to downtown in a large city. It really surprised me to see them in an established area of housing. Not aggressive if you don't mess with them, but certainly have the capacity to be dangerous. My girl really hates them.

I have 2 Border Collies and too many quirks to tell.I really think it is a collie thing,because they are so intelligent.mine are the same with other dogs,not interested,but always super concentrated on me.They really dont understand,why other dogs often dont give the ball back to the owner.if they could talk,they would say:ffs its work to fetch the ball back and not some silly funny game!.

Ours has to pick up one of his toys before he can greet us (even if we’ve only been upstairs). If he doesn’t have a toy to hand (paw?), he has to run off and find one and then come back. Or at a push, he’ll drag one of his blankets out of his crate to show us.

@Imdoingitnow, our puppy is the opposite, he chews off the tail and disembowels his teddies 😂.

He likes to stand half in and half out of the patio doors, watching the crows and letting all the heat out.

My golden retriever got the looks and not the brains!

He rings a bell to be let outside (just about the cleverest thing he can do), but if the door is wide open he’ll still ring the bell and weir for you get up and “open” the door before he’ll go outside.

If I take him on a walk by myself and he runs ahead he’ll keep stopping and looking back to check on me and make sure I’m still coming. If my partner is with me, zero shits given, that dog is gone and dads in charge of looking after me!

Similar at home - if I’m home alone he’ll sit by me, and if I’m upstairs he sits on the bottom of the stairs. If dads home, no need, he goes to his bed!

Any body of water must be layed down in / rivers, lakes, ponds, sea. Snow & rain also totally fun. But a hose or a bath? Fucking terrifying and must cower and shake!

My boy loves those Kong squeaky balls. If, when out for a walk with one, he comes across another dog he will throw it to/for them. He fully expects them to politely admire it, and throw it back. In six years this has never once happened, but despite many painful losses, he keeps hoping and trying.

The first dog that my husband and I had would spend ages rotating, patting and pawing to find the perfect spot to lay in her bed / on the sofa. Our current dog is much more forthright in her decision making and will launch herself at the sofa, two firm wags of the tail and off to sleep! I'm WFH and it makes me smile every time, my little companion looking so content.

My pom hates the thought of going out for walks and will actively hide under the table when you get his lead out. Once the lead is clipped on he's quite happy to go out. He's loves lying in puddles, especially if he's just been professionally groomed. He loves being brushed and will fall asleep when I blow dry him.

BC has too many quirks to list. She's also loves lying outside in the cold, despite having the dog flap to come in and out whenever she wants. She's a light and shadow chaser which we've managed to train her out of but all the xmas lights have made her a bit twitchy. She is also totally ball obsessed so is not allowed one in the house because she won't settle, but it makes sure she's extremely attentive outside. People are always commenting on how well trained she is but it's really just because I have a ball in my hand and she'll literally do anything to get it.

My dog is fine about me working at my desk (WFH) but if I have my laptop open on my lap when I'm on the sofa he will put his head on the keyboard and look up at me- seemingly to remind me that the sofa is NOT for working. If I don't take the hint he has been know to sit on my lap on top of the laptop. If I put the laptop down I am rewarded with cuddles (actually an amazing thing as he's a rescue who hated being touched for the first 6 months living with us). He is not a small dog.

We have done a lot of training with him that includes rewarding him with food for the right behaviour when we're on walks. Now if he does something he things deserves praise (walking past the gate where there is sometimes a barking dog/not trying to pull me up a tree after a squirrel etc) he looks at me and sort of grumbles. It's definitely not a growl, more like mumbled complaint- presumably 'I did what you want me to do but you've not given me the treat, life is SO unfair'. If I do give him the treat I get a big tail wag and an adoring look (I interpret this as 'sorry for being grumpy, you're the best'. I may be reading too much in to this!

@theelephantinthegroup Skye has been through phases of being reactive with other dogs, which we've worked hard to overcome. She's always been friendly with people but if we're on a walk and someone stops to make a fuss of her, after they've finished lavishing praise and attention on her, and she's finished lapping it up, and we carry on down the road, she'll look up at us licking her lips until given a treat. She's clearly saying 'I WAS a good girl not to savage that walker wasn't I? Now where's my treat!'

@TyrannosaurusRights I literally laughed out loud at that! I can picture the scene so clearly!

@ChocolateCupcake123 My golden retriever got the looks and not the brains! He rings a bell to be let outside (just about the cleverest thing he can do), but if the door is wide open he’ll still ring the bell and weir for you get up and “open” the door before he’ll go outside.

Hahaha, that's wonderful too!

I love that he seems himself as your protector when you're alone though, that's precious!

My last dog used to wait to eat his dinner until we were at the table. I would put his bowl down and he would ignore it, sometimes for quite a long time, until we were having our own dinner. I don't know if he liked the company or if he thought it would be impolite to eat in front of us!

I love the way my current pup (almost 6 months old) invents games for himself. I sometimes roll up treats or toys in an old towel for him to find. He now takes the towel, puts it over a toy, then removes the towel. He also plays do-it-yourself fetch, tossing a ball and then chasing it, including bouncing it down the stairs and then racing downstairs after it.

My border collie Tali likes to bring things home with him from our walks, branches, bricks (well he tried with that!), a stop sign, a coffee cup, he also likes to sit on his bed as in the photo! He also has an ear fetish, and isn't happy until he's given the family a good ear wash. Oh, he also doesn't bring the ball back whenever he is thrown one. He's my little weirdo 🤗

@Imdoingitnow

My 8 month black lab pup chews the ears off every teddie he has then he proceeds to de- brain them

Ah the puppy brain surgery. All our pups toys have required it with a low survival rate. He should be struck off

My Lab will ring her bell for me to let the cats in or out. Every other cat is awful through the window/door (lots of barking) but fine if we're out for a walk and they're 3 feet away!

She moos like a cow and does doughnuts round DD1's leg for full body scritches, preferably when she's sitting on the sofa.

Border collies are the best!

My almost 3 year old Maggie is obsessed with washing, washing machines and tumble dryers. If she sees you with clothes etc she automatically rubbs to the machine squealing with excitement. If youre actually going to put the washing on, shec stands in front of the washing machine watching it and gets proper excit ed when the buzzer goes to say it has ended, when shell squeal again with excitement and help to unload it. If you put the tumble dryer on shes similarly fascinated. She loves any washing machine anywhere....she even tries to drag us into launderettes!

She adores bubbles and drill chase them all over the park. As a result, she has made loads of friends among the local children who find her hysterical.

She's another who loves having something in her mouth, be it ball, frisbee or stick. She will pick them up and run round the park delighted with herself.

Two or three times a day she will have a mad minuteveehen she runs round the yard barking excitedly. She doesn't do it anywhere else e.g. on holiday, only at home.

She's as mad as a box of frogs but I wouldn't have her any other way.

My parents dog loves to chases stones on the beach but only into the sea if she can get them without putting her nose under!
Also once you throw the stone she will hunt until she finds exactly the same stone again- never mind the millions of others on the beach!

Also as a puppy (I believe it has now improved a bit) she would not lie on her dog bed but was quite happy to lie next to it and use it as a pillow!
When they put the bed (or anything soft) in her crate (which she doesn't mind at all) she looked at them in disgust and promptly dragged it back out again and sat on the hard floor!

I thought of another one of Skye's. She won't have a drink when out and about. Not on a walk, not in the car. It can he 30 degrees and she can have walked for 2 hours and the most she'll do is l have 2 licks from a brimming bowl. We've tried her with glass bottles and metal bowls in case it's the plastic taste she objects to, but that doesn't help. She'd just rather desiccate. Such an oddball!

Mine buries himself headfirst under any blanket or duvet he can find. I used to worry about him suffocating himself, but he is 10 now and still going strong so can’t be that bad..

His tounge sticks out when he is relaxed, and even more when he is asleep.

He loves crossing the road,, we regularly cross over when on a walk, he gets all excited in anticipation and when gets the go ahead, dashes across and leaps up the kerb all excited!

Has very strong opinions on the direction of his walks, to the extent he will sit down and refuse to move if we try and go where he doesn’t fancy that day,

Presents us with a gift when we get home to him, usually a part chewed dentastick or his empty Kong that then needs filling..

Another one for our lab pup - since we got him he hidden in any dark cupboard or corner he can find - we call him cubby as he likes cubby holes.

I noticed when we first collected him from the breeders that he slept in old china cabinet in her living room

Sleeping like this....

my beagle loves the hairdryer. which is handy when she's come in for a walk in the rain, but also extends to when I'm drying my hair. She'll turn up at the bedroom door looking hopeful and won't be satisfied until I've hair dryered her tummy for a bit.