Odd things your pet has learned,

[seedcorn]

For me, our dogs.

Had one raised around cats, thought he was growling at me. Turns out he was purring-or at least his attempt at purrng.
Current dog, puts his face right next to yours. Thought him strange (he is). Turns out mimicng DD. She puts her face by his to kiss him. So now behavior he has learned. Only does it to 2 of us.

 

[Nyboy]

I had a dog who would take his bone and try to put it in your mouth. I always thought him sweet for wanting to share. Couldn't sit and watch TV without him shoving bone in your face

 

[flowerweaver]

Years ago I had a pet rooster that bonded with a blind rescue sheep. We called her his 'fuzzy hen'. He would help her find her food, alert her of dangers, and ride around on her back. He was acting as her eyes! Herend's of Hungary read my blog and saw the photos and made a collectible commemorative figurine of them and sent me one as a surprise!

 

[baymule]

We have a big black Lab/Great Dane cross that plays hide n' seek with our grand daughter. I cover his eyes (he tries to peek) she runs and hides, I count, then ready or not, here he comes! And Parker runs off to go fine her. They both love to play the game.

 

[Just-Moxie]

My RIR rooster. He's not a pet...but he thinks he is. When we got him from the neighbor lady, he was around 1 yr old. He didn't know us, so he didn't trust us. He was even thinking of flogging me. So I started shoving the big spoon of fermented feed in his face every time I went out to feed them. After a while, he mellowed out, and considered himself "special".
He got himself kicked out of the coop because he wanted to fight the two established roosters....and he was not ready to take over the flock yet. So he has been free ranging daily now since May of '14. Now, when I holler "Red!!!" ..he comes running to see if I have any treats. All talky and chirpy and cute. He is built like a line back football player....
You can almost see the ground shake when he stomps over to wherever he is heading.

Now he is all tame....and knows his name....and has been allowed as of this week to re-establish himself back into the main flock. I culled the second rooster. No way the 3 of them could have integrated.
He has taken over "Main Roo" position from the previous long term head roo. It took some serious cold showers hosing them both down on Monday morning...but all is well now...no one died..and no one is bleeding.

 

[flowerweaver]

Found the photos. Both have since passed on. How I miss them!

 

[Just-Moxie]

@flowerweaver...what a pretty rooster!!

 

[thistlebloom]

When dh and I were married just a short time we lived in a little idyllic cabin on 5 acres with a pond and oaks. We brought my families old ewe "Ma" up for a well deserved retirement and let her browse around loose during the day. We also had a white calico cat we called Fruitcake who rode around on her back most of every day.
Unfortunately this wasn't her being helpful, she just liked to cuddle on the warm back and suck wool.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

One of my cattle dogs purrs when you pet him. And he also "hugs" by being in a lap, then wrapping 2 front legs around your neck. (no humping either)

One of our rescue cats will sit and stare into your soul. She'll do this for a long time until you pet her or she leaves.

 

[Beekissed]

LOVE this thread! I have had so many weird animals in my life I could talk about what they've learned for days...probably weeks. My Mom has a theory that weird folks have weird animals and I'd have to agree with her. I seem to collect some weird acting animals of all kinds. It's kind of a running joke in the family..you name it..dogs, cats, sheep, chickens, horse, even cows..all weird.

Found the photos. Both have since passed on. How I miss them!
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@flowerweaver, that's so strangely familiar!!! I had a black hair sheep Katahdin and St. Croix cross, name was Black Betty...she looked remarkably like your sheep except she had a white tail and a few white socks. She too would allow a chicken to ride around on her back..she was the only one to do that and I never could get a pic of it because as soon as I stepped outdoors to snap a pic, all the animals would stampede in my direction. Same chicken each time...a young BR pullet. Funniest thing you ever saw.

I loved your story and think it's just incredible that they made you a beautiful figurine just from seeing your pics and reading your story.

My last cat would dip his paw into the commode and then sip water off it. Sometimes he would just watch me using the bathroom(very unnerving, BTW), just waiting for me to flush so he could watch the water swirling. Then, after it had all settled down, he'd dip that paw and lap the water off. If you didn't watch out, he'd do the same thing in your water glass.

My very best dog ever used to pray, he could do a stealth crawl and freeze like Rin Tin Tin, he would sit on the porch swing and swing all by himself when we weren't around, he had a whole route through our town that he would travel every day~unbeknownst to me until much later~that would garner him friends, treats and family time..he'd actually go inside and watch TV with them and then later stand by the door to leave. He knew more people than I did~and this was my home town~ and had a group of dog buddies that would visit out yard to play. He would go through the bank drive thru so they would come out and bring him a treat, he'd wait outside the local deli at the supermarket for a treat and then sit next to my neighbor's car at the store so she would give him a ride home.

I had to fasten a note to his collar to tell folks to stop feeding him because he was getting so fat!

When he died I had to put his obituary in the paper because people kept calling the house to see "where Jim is"...it broke my heart each time I had to explain his death so I finally just put his pic in the paper with the news of it all.

Funny thing is, there was an ad right below his obit, from another family of a guy named Jim and they were thanking people for all the cards and flowers....pure coincidence but it looked like folks had sent such things when my Jimmy died.

All my neighbors cried when he died...they all had their own relationship with him. It makes me cry even to this day and that's been nigh on 16 years ago...he made that much of an impact on us all.