Kekoa is a quirky dog. I mean, all pets (and people, now that I think of it) are quirky in their own way, but she’s quirky in that extra-special “I’ve been down a bit of a cobbly path these last few years and my insecurity is showing through.”
After a year and a half, I thought some of those behaviors might mellow with time but if anything, they’re gotten worse. It’s nothing destructive, nothing I can’t handle. Just definitive behaviors that I haven’t found the time or inclination to get to the bottom of, so we just deal.
1. The separation anxiety. When I leave, she howls. This is all hearsay, since of course I am never around to hear it. When I’m home and someone else leaves, she doesn’t care a bit. I experimented with leaving Brody with her, leaving him outside, leaving my husband at home, nothing helps. Except me.
There are ways to deal with separation anxiety, from desensitization and counterconditioning to Thundershirts and Reconcile. I have all of these tools floating about. I just don’t ever get around to using them, because it obviously never bothers me.
My husband has informed me that Brody, instead of exuding a calming and distracting demeanor, has now taken to barking too. So now instead of chewing up toys when I leave he just howls a bit. That did not really go according to plan.
Current solution: Usually when I leave I give them a distraction like a Kong or a puzzle ball. As long as it’s a really good treat, it does the trick. They’ve gotten so used to it that part of me suspects when I forget and Brody howls, it’s not because he’s sad I’m leaving, but that I’m leaving and I forgot to give him his treat.
2. The pee monitor. At her last home, Kekoa spent most of her time outside. Most of that time, in turn, was spent howling and/or barking. This is the reason she wound up back in rescue, incidentally.
It’s not a problem here since the only time she goes outside is to go to the bathroom, and what short time she spends out there is mostly spent thinking about coming back in. If she really has to go, she’ll tear across the yard and do her thing, but the rest of the time, when it’s just a regularly scheduled potty break, she walks outside 3 feet, turns and sits down and waits for me to let her back in.
Current solution: The only way to get her to go when she really doesn’t want to is to accompany her out past the patio onto the grassy area. Then stand there, gesture to the grass, and say, “Potty, Koa. Koa, potty. Potty…….Potty. Koa…..Koa…..Potty” ad nauseum like an introduction gone bad until she relents and finally goes.
It’s not a big deal, unless it’s either raining out or I’m in a hurry, in which case it’s kind of a pain in the butt. My husband lacks the patience, so he never follows her out. My kids, who usually get up before me and have inherited the job of opening the back door in the morning, are up to the task, but being 6 and 5 have not mastered the voice projection appropriate for 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday.
KOA! POTTY! GO POTTY KOA! KOA! KOA! KOAKOAKOA! POTTTAAAAYYYYY!!!!
We live in kind of a hilly area with acoustics to rival the Hollywood Bowl, too, so when they do that it echoes off the hill, through our yard, and presumably through the shuttered window of every sleepy house in the neighborhood. Maybe that’s the real reason our neighbors bailed last month.
I don’t call these behavioral problems, at least in my eye, in the sense that they are not disruptive behaviors I feel a need to change. (At least so far as Koa goes. I’m still working on the kids.) Hers are very specifically quirks, idiosyncrasies that we have accepted and have worked around in a way everyone finds livable. Getting a little wet and cold every now and then during an unanticipated 11 pm potty break is a small price to pay for a dog whose has one other little quirk:
Her entire purpose in life is to worship at the altar of me. She follows me from room to room like an adoring acolyte, warming my face with her breath, bathing my feet with her tongue whether I like it or not. She stares at me like she is willing me into permanence. Basically, I am Robert Pattinson and she is every Twihard who ever lived. Like most celebrities, I am puzzled by this undeserved adoration yet strangely flattered. So thank you, Koa. You can be as goofy as you want in this house.
I know a lot of you have pets with some funny or poignant quirks. Let’s hear em!
Magoo liked this paws massaged… My cat loves nothing more then to lay on your lap and have you rub in between his paw pads until he is snoring. Magoo also like to lick your fingers and rub his face against them, so YOU can clean his face, because he wont do it.
George the cat loves belly rubs.
And Mini, well she like to stick her face in the cup of water we leave for them.
Have you considered something as simple as giving her a kong/canine genius/whatever to occupy herself when you are around? If it works, you can starting giving them to her before you leave. (Just make sure they don’t turn into a predictor of you leaving, natch)
I realize food toys get complicated with Brody around. Just a thought.
Caffeine got this way when we all went on vacation together last month. I briefly considered renaming her “Suppository.”
That is indeed exactly what we do. So far it’s working pretty well. I have a Kong but not a Canine Genius- never heard of it but now I am interested!
How sweet! <3 Koa!
Our dog Junior also follows us from room to room and doesn’t like to be outside without us. He is a pit bull, but he is the biggest weenie ever. He is scared of everything… hats, pillows, plastic bags, you name it. Our other dog Henry gives us hugs. I have never seen another dog do anything like it, lol. He comes up next to us (we let them on the couch), puts his head over our shoulder, and pushes/wiggles his chest into our body…hug! My cat Stella plays fetch. She started by tearing off one of the rubber door stopper thingies and bringing it to me (I didn’t teach her at all). So then I went to Lowe’s and bought some bright orange rubber plumbing thingies and we play fetch all the time ” )
“Basically, I am Robert Pattinson and she is every Twihard who ever lived.” Love the metaphor!! Brilliant! Our Shepherd/Afghan mix adores my husband. The chocolate lab adores no one unless you have food. The rats appear to adore everyone. My teen adores himself. But luckily, my husband adores me. 🙂
Maybe have your husband or kids work with Koa to build their bond so the Twihard-like adoration is not solely directed at you? ‘Course that might mean giving up all that adoration! I enjoy my Sadie following me around like I’m the reason she exists. But luckily she only has separation anxiety when her sister Maggie leaves – so maybe I’m not the sole reason for her existence like I thought. Drat!
I think it’s a “rescue puppy” thing…I rescued Chainy (boxer mix) in 2000 from the central shelter. The “twihard phenomenon” occurs with us too – she even follows me into the bathroom. I’m pretty sure she was beaten before I got her because she (to this day) flinches when you lift your arm near her and I have never hit her. Of course, this all changed recently when the man in my life joined our household…he is a lover of all dogs and adores my Chainy – and she knows it. SIGH. I am often passed up (literally, she walks right past me) for him. I think she is in awe that a man loves her (pretty sure her tormentor was a male). Her “quirk” is her killer tail! That thing is lethal! Leaves bruises on my legs and I’m sure it could break glass if I didn’t steer her from it. That tail is always wagging too! My other doggie is Emma, a black lab – her biggest quirk? She snorkels when she drinks water!! Her entire snout is submerged while she drinks and blows bubbles in the water bowl…and she leaves a huge path of water behind when she walks away from the dish…if it’s indoors I usually find the puddles when I slip on them. If I leave towels to catch them – she drools *around* them. Chainy often goes over to the water bowl, looks forlornly at the “fouled water” and then looks at me like “Mom! She messed it all up again!” I, of course, must then immediately change the water…the joys of pet parenting! =) (incidentally, Chainy is now nearly 12 and Emma is 9)
I don’t think it’s a quirk, Dr. V. I think it’s LOVE ;o)
I have an adoring acolyte too – Sophie. Cute and fine until she started riling up the Greyhounds with barking and whining and Argos let loose with explosive diarrhea. 🙁 I actually thought it was Argos that had the problem, until I did a little spying. Used a lot of tools in the toolbox and Kongs are an essential item, given only when I leave (treat!). Finally back on solid adoring, but not-tooooo-adoring, ground.
Cookie learned a lot of her quirks from her big brother – the best one is when she pretends to pee (she’ll squat but turn her head so she’s looking at you out of the corner of her eye) because she doesn’t want to come back in. Or she’ll bathe us in her scent if we’ve been gone 1 minute or 2 days. She feels that we should smell like her. She’ll just sit there and lick and lick and lick and lick and lick……
Toby had a cute quirk. He’d back in to you and sit with his back to you between your legs. He could be under a chair or right in front of a couch. But he’d back his little butt in. If you blew on his ear he’d lean his head against your mouth and groan.
Oh and Blade? Master of quirks. He knew he wasn’t supposed to touch the oyster shells in the back yard so he would carry them around and plant them on the patio so that I could see them. Or he’d nibble on my tomatoes on the vine. Or he’d leave a trail of kleenexes from the trash can if he felt he was wronged (Cookie inherited this one).
Love Koa’s quirks. 🙂 So glad she’s happy member of your family!
Aww. That’s adorable! I’ve had my rescue cat for seven months now, and while he’s settled in nicely his weird quirk is that he’s about as un-curious as one can get, and that’s pretty weird for a cat! Apart from a few exploratory circles on the dining room table and computer desk early on, he has not explored vertically at all (never seen him on the kitchen counters). He does not go any higher than the couch. He is apathetic to (when not outright scared of) all forms of bags, boxes, containers of any kind. I had a paper bag of yarn balls on the living room floor for two months and he never even peeked in there once! He has checked out the back of the tv once only and has never attempted to chew a computer/tv/phone charger cable, not even an exploratory lick! He even took 4 months to go near and start playing with a small kitty pillow that was entirely stuffed full of cat nip. I call him my alien in a catsuit and I’m totally thankful for having no bad behaviour habits to try and correct. Well… he does like to claw the leather couches, but we just keep them covered in blankets and that puts him off scratching them. No one can be perfect!
My dog is a clothes fairy. If i leave a pile of laundry to be put up later, or, my clothes laid out within her reach for the next day, she pulls everythign on the floor and scatters them artistically. No chewing, no soiling, just pulls them on the floor.
How did I never know that?
Oir cat Kozmo will pee on any towel left on the floor. He uses his litter box faithfully and never ever pees on anything else. But if a towel is left on the floor he feels it HAS to be peed on! So we just don’t leave towels on the floor.
Out other cat Delila has several quirks. We adopted her when she was about 18 months old. We never feed our cats wet food, but everytime I open a can of something (beans, tomatoes, etc) she comes running. I think she’s hoping for tuna. 🙂 She is also a talker and a snuggler. If you ignore her she will meow at you then start rubbing her head on your feet! She also likes to sit on my chest with her face under my chin. Even in the summer.
Neither cat will eat wet food. Isn’t that weird? They will eat chicken, turkey or tuna though.
My Fluffy is old & crabby. Part of it is probably canine cognitive dysfunction but honestly he’s been crabby since I adopted him when he was 7 weeks old. He is FULL of quirks!! A funny one-he will spit out green beans, carrots, and anything else we try to put in his food. He went on a diet a few years ago and our vet’s suggestion to use carrots as treats & green beans as filler didn’t go over with him! He will spit out pills if we try to hide them in his food bowl but for all his quirks he’ll let me open his mouth & pop in a pill hidden in peanut butter.
As for the Thundershirt-I love it! I leave it on him 24/7 and only take it off when we go on walks in the hot weather. It doesn’t seem to bother him to wear it all the time and I think it makes him a little more mellow.
Pupper feels the same way about veggies. Cooked are okay, if chopped into very small pieces and hidden in dinner, but as a so-called ‘treat”? Nuh-uh. She even eats fruit as if doing you a favor.
Our cat penny is very vocal and will orate an entire speech. It goes something like this: rooo roo meow meow meeeeoooowwwoooo meooowwwoooo roo roo. She does this usually at 2 a.m., hence why i am writing this now.
Ah yes, quirks. My little ginger tabby is super clingy 99.9% of the time, no matter what the temperature/time of day/etc. Right now she’s asleep on my left arm. Fortunately I’ve learned to type with her there, and she’s not very heavy. The only time she leaves me be is when she’s eating, or when I’m cooking dinner. Otherwise anytime I sit down is cuddle time.
Oh my gosh I just read this post and love it. My brother’s dog would follow everyone around and lean on them. She absolutely had to have human interaction every second of the day and it didn’t matter who you were.
My mom’s cat loves carrying socks around. Nothing else, just socks. She got him as a kitten, so it is all him and his weirdness lol.
Obviously we’ve got the oh-so-lovely quirk of Dakota refusing to take a crap in her litter box. I don’t think we’re ever going to outgrow that one despite many brave and valiant attempts. She’s also extremely high maintenance and if she doesn’t get enough attention she’ll run in circles around you or in front of you, or under your bed at 1 a.m. She also loves to be groomed. Getting a brush down and her nails trimmed is like a trip to the spa for you or me. She starts purring the second she sees you walking toward her with the brush.
When I’m getting ready to take Hamlet out for his morning walk I do the crazy dog person thing and talk to him, “wanna go outside? Go for a walk?” Without fail, he goes to his bowl and eats a bite of food, like he’s thinking, “I have no idea when we’ll be back; I better fill up while I can.” It makes me chuckle every time.