[Thumper/inOkla.]

What are your homestead's stupid pet tricks?
Some of mine are: 1. staring contest with the dogs, while shifting my gaze from one eye to the other, 2. eating food they like and blowing air in their faces, 3. blowing air in their ears. 4. tickleing the hairs in their ears or between their toes while they are sleeping. 5. asking loudly, "WHO"S THAT?" when there is no one there. 6. put a cat in a brown paper bag and scratching at different spots, as the cat jumps at the scratching sound, then trailing my finger along the top edge, that takes nerves of steel !!!! you have no idea when the cat will grab your finger! 7. One of our dogs gets silly if you ask him "Where's your butt?" he will fold himself in half, to one side then the other, as we try to touch his tail. He will hop backwards to get you to grab for his tail.

 

[Dances In Woods]

We have 2 Border Collies and we have the "staring contest" too. My female Maggie can just about stare a hole through you trying to read our minds. She's super smart.

I hide her several toys in various rooms and then ask her to get each one, each toy has a different name and she brings the exact one I specify.

When I'm on computer she disappears....when I get up from chair she has ALL her toys in a pile in front of me and I usually trip over them and then the games begin when they go flying across the room. :haha:

I ask both dogs Where's a squirrel? and they start looking up in the trees and then I'll point at different trees and they both run over to investigate.

When we pull up in pasture I ask Bailey "Where them horses"? and he goes crazy shaking, whining, barking then I open the truck door and he flies out to them.

Hubby like to chase them saying I'm gonna getcha then they turn around andchase him.

Maggie is obsessed with boxes....any box. She kills it and then shreds it. Don't know or understand that one.
When they dream and their feet are twitching, I tickle the hair between their toes. they really get going then.

 

[Don Armstrong]

Summer has hardly started here. I guess that means winter has hardly started for you, but it looks like it's already been a L..O..N..G winter.

 

[Corgitails]

Indy's stupidest habit (it's not a trick) is his very inappropriate behavior with a lifesize stuffed toy corgi that I've had since he was a puppy. He's an intact male, I'll leave the behavior to your imagination. Haven't managed to break the habit yet. His stupidest GOOD trick is 'singing'- he howls along with music (or just by himself) if I ask him to 'sing'. He also sits up and waves one paw, and fetches a bunch of random items (including the telephone, but that's not stupid, it's very useful!)

Cait

 

[Guest]

One of my cats will bite on her toes if you scratch her in front of her tail. Another will lick the air if you scratch her in front of her tail.

 

[Nancy in Maine]

I think this might qualify as a stupid human trick actually....

My dog, who now resides in doggie heaven, was a brittainy spaniel/beagle mix. So she wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, nor the bravest. But she had a good heart. I used to amuse myself with her by taking a stuffed deer head off the wall and chase her around the house with it. It was really fun to go outside with it, ring the doorbell and when she came barking at the door, I would show the deer head in the window so she would think a deer had come to call. Then when she was flipping out over that, I'd come in the house, deer head first.

My family claims I hastened her demise by a few years by teasing her like this.

 

[almostthere]

The boxer we used to have would eat from a spoon, actually preferred it that way. The boxer we still have does the usual chase the squirrell thing, but up a tree. He ended up tearing his knee up and needed surgery after doing this. He hates squirrells, rabbits, birds...basicly anything non human in his territory. We take him to the door and say "get the squirrell" and he would run like a mad dog for a good 20 minutes. When he brought me a dead rabbit-I never asked him to do that again. Not only dead but severly mangaled, like he had some fun with it first. Dh will sit behind him and whisper and it drives him nuts. I don't say "whose here" anymore b/c he ripped out the window screens(with his claws) tyring to get to our visitor. If we make a hissing sound he goes on high alert, hair stands up, muscles get tight, runs from room to room looking for the reason we made that noise.

 

[Michael W. Smith]

Not really a trick, but our old fixed male cat wants you to pet him while he's laying down. Keep petting him from head to tail and he eventually gets mad, his eyes dilate, he starts growling, and will slice you open if you happen to be too slow! Continue on until he starts hissing and then he will move a couple feet away, lay down, look at you with those "wild" eyes, and if you don't go over & start again, he will roll from side to side getting close enough to you so you can do it again. He really gets mad but keeps coming back for more!!

NancyinMaine, that is so funny!! I just wonder what the neighbors thought anytime they saw you outside with the deer head!!

 

[southerngurl]

Sometimes I poke my cat (remember Bo, the one who survived the burning brush pile a while back, doing good btw) in the belly and retract my hand very quickly before he can get it. I do this repeatedly, he gets mad, sometimes I lose and it hurts. I also like to poke my animals' tongues when they yawn. tee hee. Allie my Border Collie will try to herd any moving thing or anything you "activate" by touching, looking at very long, or move. She won't let you get behind her for some reason, especially when she is eating.

 

[Thumper/inOkla.]

OHhhh, yeah, I poke the tongue too, mine shut their mouths and look at me like "you are such a freak" my husband will eat and turn his back, the dog goes around him to see the food, hubby turns his back, the dog goes around, this goes on until the food is gone.

Another one is, I am up stairs and Steve is down stairs, I say, "where is daddy?" the dogs run down the stairs, Steve says "Where is mommy?" the dogs run upstairs and so forth, this goes on for 5 or 6 times.Before they 'catch on'.

 

[kabri]

Our Aussie "Busy" has very distinct eyebrows. DH and I will stand on opposite sides from her and alternatly say her name. She'll sit there and just move her eyes... those eyebrows go up and down... it is hilarious because her head never moves, her eyes are very dark. ... Guess you had to be there

 

[Dixie912]

I have a chihuahua that sings, "Who let the dogs out?" She started it on her own. We didn't teach her. She never misses a beat.

 

[nostalgia]

Don't know if they are considered tricks or not but here are a few things our fur ball can do.

When we go shopping, we always bring him home something. Ususally a toy or a treat of some kind. When we come home we sit all the bags down on the floor in the kitchen, and ask which bag is it in? And he knows and shows us by sticking his nose in the correct bag. He is usually right at least 8 out of 10. But sometimes he prefers to sniff the meats first. :haha:

He also sleeps with a big fuzzy ball. He goes to sleep with it in his mouth. He will usually keep it in his mouth for at least a half an hour or so before he decides his jaws need a rest.

He also loves to pop the bubbles that I blow with those kids bubbles.
And his favorite of all is flashlight. He loves to chase the flashlights light around the room. He will follow it's light up the wall, onto the ceiling, and will go around in circles one way, when you switch directions, he will switch and go the other way too.

He is really big ham! Now if we could only teach him to stay. He will sit, shake hands, but he will not stay.

 

[Lt. Wombat]

Here's what happens when you take 1 herd of goats, 1 border collie who likes to herd goats and a second border collie who likes to herd border collie 1:

Goats come out of lower pasture heading for the top pasture.

Dog 1 drops to the ground waiting for them to get close so she can take them to top pasture.

Dog 2 seeing dog 1 drop, drops herself waiting for dog 1 to spring into action.

Dog 1 springs into action heading for goats.

Dog 2 springs into action heading for dog 1.

Dog 1 and 2 involved in a viscous sounding (but not really) fight.

Goats go wherever they fell like going.

Just another morning at our place :haha:

 

[tambo]

I had a border collie once that would put all her stuffed toys in the porch swing and swing them.

Tambo

 

[Guest]

My 7-yr-old male cat lies down on command when in bed with me or in front of the TV blocking the view; plays fetch on occasion (with the tiny mousies); comes running into the bathroom when I am using the blow-dryer............he LOVES to blow-dried (when already dry) and fusses if I stop giving him his hot-air massage!

 

[Dances In Woods]

Maggie(our BC) attacks the vacuum cleaner. Loves attacking the air-gun we'll blow the air all over and and she tries her best to "catch" the air. Also, plays in the sprinkler, and waterhose biting the water constantly.

Chases smoke from burning brush piles, cigarette smoke she jumps straight up and tries to catch it.

 

[joan from zone six]

didja ever try this - your dog is asleep, like a log - your dog sleeps with mouth open and tongue hanging out - gently grasp the tongue, very gently start to pull - you'll be amazed just how long those things are

 

[southerngurl]

Oh yea, speaking of sleeping, it is always fun (but hard) to sneak up on a cat when it is napping and then suddenly make a loud noise when you poke it (for full effect, poke in the belly). Be prepared for claws. Bo makes a weird sound when I do that, but he has become wise to me and it is hard to sneak up on him.

 

[Kevin and Laura]

When I'm playing/fighting with Sprinkles, our female house cat, she'll sit huffing with her mouth open waiting for me to put my hand close to her and I move my hand straight up to her, press my index finger in the middle of her forehead and go, "ZZZZZZZZZZZTTTT" then pull away REALLY quick. She hates that. The other thing I do is when she's on the back of the recliner and she wants to jump on my shoulder so that she can jump over and walk on top of the bookshelf in the living room. I lean over towards her, and she'll move her head to the side of the shoulder she's planning to jump on. So, I'll move my head over there. Then she'll move hers to the other side, so I do too. So we do this insane head weaving thing, with her getting frustrated and me laughing.

Poor animals. Most of these aren't animal tricks, they're human tricks. (Sprinkles at the window to the outside cats, "Watch me make her do the stupid head dance!") :haha:

Laura