Tell us a funny or sweet story about your pet

[Anonymous]

I could use a little lift today and I’m an animal lover. Can you tell us a story about your pet that is funny, sweet, or otherwise compelling? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

My cat loves to play fetch with my hair bands. I toss it down the stairs and she runs after it, picks it up with her mouth, runs back upstairs and drops it near me. Sometimes, she tries to pull the band off of my hair to let me know she wants to play.

[Anonymous]

Ok I've got two!

1) We have an Australian Shepard that is sort of a rescue. She was brought up on a farm with sheep, and was part of a litter of 11.

For every star sheep herder, there are siblings who just don't have the talent. She is timid. The sheep herded her! The rancher was disgusted with her and even though she has fancy bloodlines, just gave her to us.

Anyways the same qualities that made her a crummy sheepherder make her a great pet. She doesn't nip or bark or do anything to be difficult. She was practically seamless in integrating into our home because she was an adult and fully trained. She has really come into her own, where she is not afraid and very happy. She's totally gentle and all dogs seem to know this; all dogs like her.

The other thing is my DH is allergic but he takes shots now because he loves her so much and wants the kids to have a dog. Everyone loves her so much.

2) We had a cockatiel that was 20 years old that died. That bird was amazing, but I wasn't looking to replace him.

We ended up at a bird supply store which is also a sanctuary and there was a cockatiel there. I thought he was just being boarded, but turns out he was a return...he was originally found after a huge fire in California, and named Sparky, and a family took him in. But 9 months later, the family had some kind of family emergency and brought him back. They said he was not tame.

At the time we were having some crises in the family (my mother dying; one child with a medical crisis) I said to my family: "No, no...I'm not looking for a project." But I looked over at my DH and he had tears in his eyes. I dragged him outside and said, "why are you tearing up? My mom? or X? or Y?"

And he said, "Sparky. I can't believe they abandoned him!"

And I thought, Ok, we are adopting this untame bird. So we did.

And Sparky turned out to be tame and a great little bird!

And one day while outside on my kid's shoulder as she was playing a guitar, a hawk flew by and scared him and he took off and ended up on the roof of the neighbor's house. We called the fire department and they actually came and got him down. It made the local paper! Ha we love our little Sparky!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok I've got two!

1) We have an Australian Shepard that is sort of a rescue. She was brought up on a farm with sheep, and was part of a litter of 11.

For every star sheep herder, there are siblings who just don't have the talent. She is timid. The sheep herded her! The rancher was disgusted with her and even though she has fancy bloodlines, just gave her to us.

Anyways the same qualities that made her a crummy sheepherder make her a great pet. She doesn't nip or bark or do anything to be difficult. She was practically seamless in integrating into our home because she was an adult and fully trained. She has really come into her own, where she is not afraid and very happy. She's totally gentle and all dogs seem to know this; all dogs like her.

The other thing is my DH is allergic but he takes shots now because he loves her so much and wants the kids to have a dog. Everyone loves her so much.

2) We had a cockatiel that was 20 years old that died. That bird was amazing, but I wasn't looking to replace him.

We ended up at a bird supply store which is also a sanctuary and there was a cockatiel there. I thought he was just being boarded, but turns out he was a return...he was originally found after a huge fire in California, and named Sparky, and a family took him in. But 9 months later, the family had some kind of family emergency and brought him back. They said he was not tame.

At the time we were having some crises in the family (my mother dying; one child with a medical crisis) I said to my family: "No, no...I'm not looking for a project." But I looked over at my DH and he had tears in his eyes. I dragged him outside and said, "why are you tearing up? My mom? or X? or Y?"

And he said, "Sparky. I can't believe they abandoned him!"

And I thought, Ok, we are adopting this untame bird. So we did.

And Sparky turned out to be tame and a great little bird!

And one day while outside on my kid's shoulder as she was playing a guitar, a hawk flew by and scared him and he took off and ended up on the roof of the neighbor's house. We called the fire department and they actually came and got him down. It made the local paper! Ha we love our little Sparky!

Those are sweet stories about your pets, but your husband? SO sweet.

[Anonymous]

We have a nine year old miniature poodle who really loves her special people and two special toys. Like many poodles, she understands many words and you can send her into rapture by telling her that one of her favorite people is coming to visit. She will sit quietly facing the front door when she senses our neighbor is coming to visit (pre-COVID time) or, even if I tell her Peapod is coming (because, again preCOVID when they brought deliveries in) she had one driver she just loved to see. But the sweetest thing she does is care for her favorite toy, a small cotton sheep. She got it two years ago and it changed her life. She had played with toys before, but never had a really special one. She was immediately taken with this sturdy little sheep. She will play with it for long stretches at a time and is just so happy. Now, when we are working from home, she brings it to the foot of the stairs to catch us as soon as we come down to make dinner so we can play with her and the sheep first. But the best thing she does is to go get the sheep before we take her out for her last walk of the day. She carries the sheep in her mouth for the whole walk until it is time to pee. Then she looks up as if to say, “please hold my sheep” and looks back up to retrieve the sheep and carry her inside when she is done. It just started one day last winter and now happens almost every night. She will even go upstairs to get the sheep when she senses it is about time to go out. It’s so sweet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a nine year old miniature poodle who really loves her special people and two special toys. Like many poodles, she understands many words and you can send her into rapture by telling her that one of her favorite people is coming to visit. She will sit quietly facing the front door when she senses our neighbor is coming to visit (pre-COVID time) or, even if I tell her Peapod is coming (because, again preCOVID when they brought deliveries in) she had one driver she just loved to see. But the sweetest thing she does is care for her favorite toy, a small cotton sheep. She got it two years ago and it changed her life. She had played with toys before, but never had a really special one. She was immediately taken with this sturdy little sheep. She will play with it for long stretches at a time and is just so happy. Now, when we are working from home, she brings it to the foot of the stairs to catch us as soon as we come down to make dinner so we can play with her and the sheep first. But the best thing she does is to go get the sheep before we take her out for her last walk of the day. She carries the sheep in her mouth for the whole walk until it is time to pee. Then she looks up as if to say, “please hold my sheep” and looks back up to retrieve the sheep and carry her inside when she is done. It just started one day last winter and now happens almost every night. She will even go upstairs to get the sheep when she senses it is about time to go out. It’s so sweet.

Adorable! Do you have a backup sheep?

[Anonymous]

I have an adopted ancient teeny chihuahua. Not sure how old, but old. Has nightmares often. Wakes the whole house up wailing. It's heartbreaking.

Got a pit bull puppy. The chihuahua hates him. Just doesn't want to be touched, played with, etc. by a large rambunctious youngster, I get it. Pit has learned to avoid.

Chihuahua was napping and started to wail - nightmare. Pit bull ran over and started licking his face to wake him up. Pit was obviously worried about Uncle Grumpy It was very sweet.

[Anonymous]

I love this thread. Thank you for starting it, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a nine year old miniature poodle who really loves her special people and two special toys. Like many poodles, she understands many words and you can send her into rapture by telling her that one of her favorite people is coming to visit. She will sit quietly facing the front door when she senses our neighbor is coming to visit (pre-COVID time) or, even if I tell her Peapod is coming (because, again preCOVID when they brought deliveries in) she had one driver she just loved to see. But the sweetest thing she does is care for her favorite toy, a small cotton sheep. She got it two years ago and it changed her life. She had played with toys before, but never had a really special one. She was immediately taken with this sturdy little sheep. She will play with it for long stretches at a time and is just so happy. Now, when we are working from home, she brings it to the foot of the stairs to catch us as soon as we come down to make dinner so we can play with her and the sheep first. But the best thing she does is to go get the sheep before we take her out for her last walk of the day. She carries the sheep in her mouth for the whole walk until it is time to pee. Then she looks up as if to say, “please hold my sheep” and looks back up to retrieve the sheep and carry her inside when she is done. It just started one day last winter and now happens almost every night. She will even go upstairs to get the sheep when she senses it is about time to go out. It’s so sweet.

aaawwwww

[Anonymous]

I have a labradoodle that hops like a bunny across the back yard when we let her out. She frequently naps against a closed door, but only if someone is in that closed off room.

My teenaged boy taught her to “kiss” (nose bump) a cheek on command, and he whispers sweet things to her when he thinks no one is listening. He’s a standard aloof teenager otherwise. I understand why dogs are great therapists.

[Anonymous]

I have a cat whose meow sounds like she's a grumpy old New Yorker saying "hel-LO!" and she loves to roll on her back so I can rub her armpits. She looks like 15lbs of cat in a 12-lb catsuit (we adopted her and according to the shelter and her foster home she did a lot of eating her feelings when her previous owner turned her in) and picking her up is like holding a medicine ball. She is a delight.

Growing up we had a standard poodle. He was a total jerk as a youngster (ate my retainer twice, ate my grandma's glasses, would start running and then stop short so you tripped over him) but he would leap over the side of an above-ground pool to swim with us, was my brother's constant companion when he was going through cancer treatment, would go on any walk or beach trip, and was just so sweet and smart and lovable. His greatest joy in life was when my mom would make a pot roast and he could lay in front of the oven and just enjoy the warmth and wafting smell. He died in the midst of an incredibly shitty year for my family (unemployment, cross-state move, hurricanes, cancer, etc.) and a few months later we decided to see Marley and Me while we were visiting my grandmother. She stayed home and when we all walked in sniffling and tear-stained she said "I thought it was supposed to be a comedy!" But it was just a perfect portrayal of life with the best, worst, dog we ever had.

[Anonymous]

I’m on conference calls throughout the day. Without fail, as soon as I say ‘bye’ on a call, our 8 month old St. Bernard comes over, grabs me by my shirt sleeve and drags me to his toy bucket. He’s obviously figured out that ‘bye’ means that mom can now be bothered and play with him.

[Anonymous]

I'm an essential worker at a remote site, and I have an apartment there for long shifts. There's a cute guy I'm interested in at the end of the row of apartments. When he's home, my rescue cat (I swear it's her, not me), has a habit of climbing on the roof and meowing loudly over his apartment.

He's taken to leaving a stepladder in the laundry room, and he helps me bring her down sometimes (even steadying my waist on the ladder). I grumble at her, but she gives me The Look.

She knows.

[Anonymous]

Love this thread.

To 8:33, yes we have a back-up sheep. We are on the 3rd in fact and I have a spare hidden away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an essential worker at a remote site, and I have an apartment there for long shifts. There's a cute guy I'm interested in at the end of the row of apartments. When he's home, my rescue cat (I swear it's her, not me), has a habit of climbing on the roof and meowing loudly over his apartment.

He's taken to leaving a stepladder in the laundry room, and he helps me bring her down sometimes (even steadying my waist on the ladder). I grumble at her, but she gives me The Look.

She knows.

Ha! What a great wingman/wingcat.