Your favourite unexpected thing about your dog

[Enko]

What is something about your dog you just love that is utterly unexpected that you love?

I'm not talking traits you know foe the breed but something about your dog that just makes you all aww.

For me I have a Basset hound known for sniffing and long ears and being lazy and gentle

My unexpected favourite thing about him is how he sounds like a freight runaway train (dh says a horse galloping) when he comes running full speed at you. It fills my hear with joy each time
100% not something mentioned in the breed descriptions

My dog makes different noises when she wants different things. She sneezes to ask to go in the garden. Makes us laugh every time. She also leaps like a lamb through long grass and stands on her hind legs to see things above it. She's fab!

If I shout 'are you ready' she will leap up run outside and start digging a hole.

My two border terriers wait for me to get out of the shower then lick all the water off my feet and calves. I've had dogs all my life and hadn't experienced this until these two.

@DarkForces Is yours a cockerpoo? As that’s one of the things I love about my dog 🐶
his unbridled enthusiasm for life - he’s a s thick as two short planks but he chats away to me, loves everything and has such a personality- I probably love him more than the DH 😱

I loved loved loved the way my late lamented basset hound used to abandon her regal dignity to scamper playfully if a puppy ever visited us. It was like suddenly seeing the Queen hitch up her skirts and leapfrog.

And I love the way our current dog makes a weirdly un-doglike honking noise when he's playing with his squeaky pig. I had no idea why until it dawned on me that he might be mimicking the piggy.

I love that when my dog runs her ears flap up and down. When she stops one ear stays down and one sticks up.
I also love that as a tiny puppy she was a complete ball of fluff, but has now morphed into looking like Snowy, Tintin's dog.

My dog juggles.

My dog is a terrier and his breed can be quite vocal.
By luck, mine happens to growl instead of alert barking. Which is very convenient and appreciated by my neighbours I'm sure!

But overall, I absolutely adore his growling face.
He stretches the corners of his lips to do a sort of O shape, he slightly opens his mouth, you can't see the teeth, it's quite the opposite of curled lips and it's soooo cute.

When my Labrador gets up in the night and shifts position in our bed and he does what we call the ‘happy wag’.
He settles again and then does a super fast little wag of the tail that thumps the mattress and it brings us so much joy. Unexpected joy

If I curl up on the sofa and touch a blanket to put over my legs, before I can put it over me, our Springer spaniel goes mental and curls up next to me. He loves a blanket. 🤣

My dog rarely barked, but that bit at the end of Bargain Hunt where they say "Join us soon for some more bargain hunting - YES!!!!" would make her jump off the sofa and run around joining in by barking her head off.

Also, if there was a squirrel/dog/pony/pig on TV she'd go up to the screen, stare, then run around the back of the telly. Sometimes, when the animal disappeared from the screen she'd run to the patio doors to see if it had gone out into the garden.

I so miss her.

Photo please!

When she wakes up in the morning, insanely excited to see me and comes for a cuddle in my arms.

The way mine tucks himself up under the duvet. If I'm late going to bed or in the shower in the morning he wraps himself in the duvet, usually with his head sticking out looking like a person

'Come on then' means he will leap into action from a seemingly unconscious position.

Just recently he has decided that the most fun thing in the world is to run away with a toy so that you will chase him, and if he's feeling really crafty he'll run upstairs with it. He's tiny but those four legs over my two give him a distinct advantage!

@grosslyunfair So sweet!

How communicative he is with no words. If he wants a walk, he paws at my arm and flicks his eyes towards the window. If there’s leftover food in the kitchen and he wants it or his water bowl is empty, he growls from the kitchen (but never growls in anger). When he’s decided it’s dinner time (usually 20 mins before actual dinner time!), he sits in front of us and stamps his feet. If he wants to go to bed, he goes up to our bedroom and woofs us upstairs, although on Friday I was WFH and he tried to woof me up to bed at 1pm 😂 if only! That’s just a few examples, I’m able to tell exactly what he wants just from his body language and noises.

I also love his dreams, he does a high pitched woof, growls, runs and eats all in his sleep 🥰.

He knows the different between "bed" in the living room and "bedtime" for his bed in the bedroom. Sometimes he randomly decides it's bedtime and off he goes. If you don't follow him through he'll reappear at the living room door a few minutes later and just stare at you as if he's asking "why aren't you going to bed?"

He can't understand why the pet shop is closed when we walk past on a Sunday and stands waiting for someone to open the door for him.

He knows that DH's work uniform means that he doesn't get to go too. But when DH wears his normal coat then he gets excited.

He likes to walk along "lines" in the pavement (mostly from cable work in our area).

He's obsessed with buses and has been known to try to jump on if we walk past one at a bus stop. When we do take him on a bus he expects that his stop will be whenever the door opens again and tries to get off.

My cocker spaniel leaps on me every time I sneeze and snuffles my neck like he's looking for a pulse. Each time I thank him for saving my life- he was very busy in hayfever season! I absolutely love it, it makes me smile so much

This is the loveliest thread ever and is making me want a dog. I’ll probably get one in a few years, I’m just not in the right place right now, so I’ll awww at all yours instead!

I love how after our walk, run, training morning session, she comes in and waits by the kitchen door. She loves to go into the lounge for a lounge around in comfort! Only 8 months but knows her comfort spots!

My labs are related and they dob each other in…. Eg biscuit goes off the table - one will point to the other and that one will put its head down in shame

Also they bounce for a good hour every day on the trampoline - they take it in turns

Younger one sleeps with eldest child and the older one with me
They sleep on the bed
he considers it a very special treat to be under a blanket on top on the duvet and sighs with pure bliss. Very occasionally he is allowed under the duvet and he puts his paws gently around my neck, puts his head of the pillow and literally sighs ‘I am 100% happy, this is pure bliss, I love you’ and he will stay like that all night

😂

My dogs happy tail when he's walking - he just really looks like he's loving his walk. And the fact he wags his tail whenever anyone says dog/his name/good boy in a sentence. Even if he looks fast asleep.

The way he bounds through the woods - he looks like a spring lamb and it just makes me smile

Also the satisfied groans when you cuddle him in the evening - and he will lie on his back with his paws in the air looking so relaxed. He's just gorgeous.