My Doberman was rescued. He was very neglected and supposedly confined to a barn for the first few years of his life. When I adopted him, he was emaciated and unable to perform everyday tasks such as climbing stairs, etc. After a lot of work, he can now function normally, though he is still scared of his own shadow. And yet, true to his breed, he is very protective.

But he walks in circles. That's all he does sometimes. He can't stop. Round and round and round and round. It's funny at first glance, but it's inevitably sad. I realize that this is my fault. Dobermans are a very dominant and intelligent breed that want to work. Even though I took him in and gave him a good home, I have failed to challenge him.

He has the biggest heart of any animal I have ever known. It is my responsibility to make sure that he is content in all aspects of life.
Salut! Ollie. I promise to work your ass off.

So please stop walking in circles.

Ginger, the middle-aged calico, likes to lie under the covers in bed with me. She'll come into bed and nudge my hand, I'll lift the covers and she'll get under, and we'll spoon like I'm mommy cat and she's the kitten. She'll also come when beckoned, and we'll meow back and forth for sometimes a solid minute.

A strange thing she likes to do is this rapid paw-paw-paw-motion that's like a fast hybrid of the kneading-dough move and scratching, only she can't scratch as she has no front claws (I'm agin' declawing, I found her that way). She's either trying to scratch or massaging her pads.

Cami, one of the one-year-old sisters, will paw at random spots like she's digging into litter. And when she is in the box, she'll stand half-in half-out and dig at the floor. WTF?

Kiki, the other sister, likes to get my attention by grabbing my mousing arm while I'm at my desk. And she is also the one who always initiates play-fights with her sisters, which usually does not amuse them. She and Cami will chase each other around and fight, and--you know how in cartoons when characters fight and it looks like a ball of dust with limbs sticking out? They look EXACTLY like that.

For those of you with cats, do they box with you?

I had a friend whose cat liked to box/slap fight with him. That cat could really hit ya.

Christopher J. McGarvey wrote:When it snows, he uses his mouth like a plow so he can eat snow and walk at the same time.

I've seen dogs do this, it cracks me up.

Also fun is to give a dog something minty and watch it run around with its mouth open.

burun wrote:

turnbullac wrote:If I howl, I can get both my dogs to howl also. It's so cute.

My cousin's dog Wooly Bully (like the song) would howl and sing along when you initiated it.

It was awesome.

Would he sing "Wooly Bully"?

burun wrote:For those of you with cats, do they box with you?

I had a friend whose cat liked to box/slap fight with him. That cat could really hit ya.

Not so much box as rabbit-kick with the back legs.

When I lived in NYC, I used to take care of my friend's dog, Avery, every once in a while. He's a lab/husky who is literally obsessed with his frisbee. But one night I took him to the schoolyard and forgot his bag of toys. all he did for the first couple minutes was stare and bark and wait for me to throw something. Finally when he realized I didn't have anything, he ran over behind a dumpster. Then I heard all kinds of noise back there. Suddenly he emerges with a flattened out 32oz. plastic cup. he made his own frisbee!

lemur68 wrote:

burun wrote:For those of you with cats, do they box with you?

I had a friend whose cat liked to box/slap fight with him. That cat could really hit ya.

Not so much box as rabbit-kick with the back legs.

The cats usually "cuff" Billie the dog. They also retaliate with a volley of thumps delevered to the dog noggin, creating a hilarious hollow sound. Billie has learned these techniques, and used them on other pups. My mom told me that her schnauzer Molly has learned this technique from Billie and is using it on other pups.

burun wrote:For those of you with cats, do they box with you?

I had a friend whose cat liked to box/slap fight with him. That cat could really hit ya.

My big black vicious slob of a buddy hates being pet normally. However, if you wrestle him down a bit, and rough him up, he's your best friend. 'Rough trade', I think is the street term for it. His idea of affection is to be 'On Top'. Just like the Whitehouse song.

You know, sometimes it seems like nearly anything meaningful can be expressed by Whitehouse song titles.

burun wrote:For those of you with cats, do they box with you?

I had a friend whose cat liked to box/slap fight with him. That cat could really hit ya.

My cat, Scout is quite fond of punching me in the eye at times. no clawing just a good old fasioned punch.