Who Owns a Pet With a Bit of an Attitude?

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warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
12,282
18,264
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
I have a parrot who demands to be part of any conversation I'm having on my phone.

I also have Augustus McCrae, a Chocolate Lab. He comes whenever I call ... If he wants. Totally controlled by his nose when outside. He allows me to share the bed. As he goes to bed first, I am expected to fit into whatever space he's not occupying. Am I the Alpha in the relationship? He allows me to think of myself as such.
 

shanez

Lifer
Jul 10, 2018
5,455
26,099
50
Las Vegas
We have something. I mean technically she's a dog. And we consider her a pet. Really she's an overly-friendly moron with no concept of personal space.

Ever seen a dog catch its own tail? I have. She just spit it out and attacked going the other direction.

She's a good dog though. She puts up with stuff from my daughter she'd bite me for even though I know she recognizes me as the family alpha.

I tell everyone we have a maltipoo. Mostly poo but still good.
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
10,025
16,070
My dog is generally well behaved, but gets a bit agitated in her old age with dogs or people that she doesn't know. I adopted her from the Humane Society when she was 1...she's almost 10 now. She was super friendly with everyone, even strangers for the first two or three years, but since then has gotten a lot more territorial and protective. I can't allow strangers to approach her now...it's too unpredictable how she'll react until she gets used to someone...but she's a great watch dog.


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This little guy belongs to my significant other...she adopted him from the county dog pound when he was 1, and he too is almost 10 now. But he's got the energy of a puppy, and is like a cross between Yosemite Sam and the Tasmanian Devil. I can't even begin to describe all of his behaviors and the noises he makes...but he's a lot of fun. He thinks he can take on any dog of any size, and mine knows better than to mess with him even though she must be 7 or 8 times his size.

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LeafErikson

Lifer
Dec 7, 2021
2,172
19,056
Oregon
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My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, wasn’t very interested in dogs when we were living together. I had never lived without a dog and sorely missed the ones I had grown up with. After months of back and forth she finally acquiesced and showed me a picture of a dog she liked the looks of at the local shelter. We went to go visit this funny looking little black dog and he ended up happily prancing home with us. We didn’t know what to name him for almost a week until one day, my wife’s friend came over and remarked that he looked like Steve Buscemi, so his name became Buscemi. He’s half pug, half min pin and he’s certainly a persnickety little bastard sometimes. The good thing is that he’ll do almost anything if there’s food involved. He’s also a great watch dog.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
16,645
31,195
46
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
Satchel is my son's dog, a Chihuahua/Corgi mix who is a very loving chill dog in general, amazingly great with little kids, as in nothing they do will phase her. I think she finds the little monkeys entertaining. She loves having her belly rubbed, and frankly likes being rubbed in general, with no issues. Satchel has adopted me as her co human, and generally curls up next to me at night, and hangs out next to me while I work. She can be a bit clingy at times, which I'm not wild about and which is the basis for this thread.

She's house trained to go on pads in the bathroom if she needs to go, or she'll do her business if she needs to while out for a walk.

But, she hates being left behind and if we leave her alone in the house while we're out running errands for an extended length of time she will make a protest dump or piss in this one location in front of the storage closet. Satchel knows she's doing wrong and will get in trouble, but goddamn it she's a member of the family and how dare we leave her home!!?

As a consequence we put her in her crate when we have to go out, and when we release her, she runs to her bed by my workstation, grabs her bone, plants her feet, and looks at us, making complaining noises while shaking the bone at us. This is a person in a dog suit.

BTW, she actually loves her crate and crashes out there often.

So anyone else got a pet with a bit of an attitude?
that doesn't sound like an attitude. It sounds like marking of territory out of nervousness.
Now my cat does have attitude he lets me know when I make him mad versus when he's afraid.
But to a dog pooping and peeing in those spots is only a faux pas cause we react to it. Otherwise that's just like the paper work you fill out on your house and other properties saying you belong there and are allowed to hurt people who don't belong there.
 

proteus

Lifer
May 20, 2023
1,536
2,563
54
Connecticut (shade leaf tobacco country)
Had a pit, G. Shepard, Rotty mix that would attack anyone not in the family unit. Even children. Rescued him from a kill shelter no one wanted him. I had some rough training with him to get him good around at least family but unfortunately he always had to be caged around others. Delivery people would drop packages and run. He thought it was a game though and would wait by the window or door and let out the G. shepherd bark and snarl and would watch as they ran. Miss him. Died a couple years ago after lymphoma got him at the age of 12. Was stoic to the end. Never showed any pain. What a soldier he was.
 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,829
7,437
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
I have a neutered male Basenji who adopted me from the local Humane Society shelter, and the wildness of this dog is not far removed from his primal ancestors in Africa. He can be cuddly, but only on his own terms. These dogs do not bark, but make an eerie howl/yodel when unhappy (whenever he is where I am not) that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. Still, I love him.
 
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