Tell us of your animals, past or present, with English skills

[Oeditpus Rex]

I was just thinking of Blondie, the Best Dog Ever™, and how she understood "Where's the ball?" and "Where's your dish?" and one or two other things. But the damnedest thing I ever saw was when I was about 15 and Sidney, our Siamese cat, had wandered beyond the back fence. (He didn't even much like being outside, so...)

I said to Fireball, our dachshund, "Go find Sidney!" and she took off out the back door as fast as those little legs would go. A minute later, here came both quadrapeds, rompin' toward the house together.

(Sidney, btw, would sometimes wake me by standing on my chest and gently biting my nose. When I opened my eyes, he'd look into 'em and go "Raaaaa.")

[Heidi]

1. OK.

At about 4 a.m. every morning for the past week, Ginger has awakened me to say, "Get up and feed me some roast beef!" So I wake up and feed him some roast beef. Cute how I'm so well trained, huh? ;)

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. What's even cuter

is how you let CMW lock you.

:rofl:




:hide:

[Heidi]

4. He takes his Mod responsibilities

very seriously. :rofl:

Heidi: I'm having a really busy week. Could I get some help around here?
CMW: I'd suggest you post a poll in the Lounge.

:rofl: :spray:

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. ROFL!

He's not obsessed with DU or anything, is he? :rofl:

[LisaL]

2. The only thing my cat understands is "are you hungry?".

That he knows. Anything else-not so much.

[radwriter0555]

6. "Lola, go get your toys and bring them in...." She'll manage one before

she gets distracted.

I was mopping the kitchen and she was in the doorway, ready to come in. I asked her to use the other door.... and she did.

[In_The_Wind]

7. I love it when Frodo says "you're okay" like she really means it..

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. Hey, cool!

Your very own multi-colored, talking ego booster.

[In_The_Wind]

12. She really is very special.

I'll be holding her in my arms while she wraps her wings around me tomorrow :)

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Wow, birds hug?

I don't think I've ever seen that.

Well, except mama birds shielding their li'l'uns from the rain or somethin'.

[AlienGirl]

18. Gideon will say, "Hug!" and snuggle in under my chin

Cockatoos are notorious for wanting physical affection all day, every day.

Tucker

[AlienGirl]

9. My pet understands and speaks English

One day, Gideon was bored because I was at the computer. He announced, "I throw!" then climbed on the computer desk and threw books and papers off, then laughed.

In other words: he announced his intention to do something, in English, then carried out his plan, then laughed at me afterwards.

Another time, UncleSepp was over here, and made a joke about shaking my hand. Sepp jokingly asked if Gideon wanted to shake hands too, and Gideon laughed. Sepp asked, "Do you even know why it's funny?" and Gideon replied, "Because I can't!" :rofl: Gideon subsequently figured out how to "shake" with his foot-hand and wanted Sepp to shake hands every time he was over for several weeks.

Gideon regularly labels things and people; I'm Mama, everythingsxen is Daddy, kids are summoned over with "Hiii kid!" and Gideon lately has been requesting a cat: "Mom get kitty." He gets enthusiastic about going out and announces happily, "Car ride!" and once climbed onto the steering wheel and said "I can drive!"

Tucker

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. That's freakin' inCREDible!

Maybe Gideon's name oughta be Michigan J. Bird.

[AlienGirl]

17. "Gideon" roughly means "destroyer"

So it fits him!

Tucker

[Oeditpus Rex]

20. Then how come all those hotel rooms

ain't all torn up? :shrug:

[AlienGirl]

21. They don't have parrots in them...yet.

[Oeditpus Rex]

23. Perhaps the parrots

are no more.

They've ceased to be.

They've expired and gone to meet their makers.

(Etc.)

[reyd reid reed]

10. Couple of 'em

Waggles will bring her toy when I ask for it. Of course, she'll bring it when I don't ask for it, too. She wags her tail if I ask though, 'cause she knows I'll play with her.

In the evenings, if I ask Cookie where Danny is, she'll go find him.

Patches...my great-gramma kitty...will touch her nose to mine if I ask her for a kiss...

Velvet, on the other hand, just looks at me like I've lost every brain cell I ever possessed when I talk to her. Unless she wants a treat, that is. Oh...and she's the only one who listens when I tell her to stop doing something.

[Whoa_Nelly]

11. Flippy

Flip, my Hippie trippy dog from many, many moons back:



Flip
RIP 1976

[AlienGirl]

13. My grandma's dog would say "Hello" and was the answering machine message

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

14. My German Shepherd, Cheyenne, knew a bunch of stuff...

She knew the difference between right & left paw. She also knew not only every word for going "O-U-T" but how to spell every word that meant "O-U-T."

If the cats were being bad, we just had to say, "Cheyenne, go get *insert name of cat*" and she would run over and pin the cat down and bite it (not hard, like how a dominant/mother dog reprimands a submissive dog/puppy). That was way more effective that us yelling at the cat. The dog loved the cats like they were her puppies. She was vicious with strange people/animals, but she was very family oriented. The cats often slept with her in the crate.

Also, after she once hurt herself falling down the basement steps, she would only go up or down steps if we said, "It's okay. You can do it." The dog was neurotic as hell and downright dangerous with people she didn't know, but she was extremely smart and a giant baby within the family.

We had to put her down last year because of malignant bladder cancer. :-/

[Oeditpus Rex]

22. I'm sorry :(

Blondie died of cancer, too. :cry:

[Deja Q]

19. My parrot can say "Pretty bird" reasonably well...

it can also belch, which is a bit of a shame...

[WolverineDG]

24. My aunt had a parrot

who could mimic her voice. He'd call the cat in that voice & when the cat showed up & started looking for my aunt, he'd laugh that maniacal laugh all parrots seem to have.

dg

[yellowdogintexas]

25. my ex father in law had a poodle who could spell.. s- q- u -i - r -r- e l

would send that dog into a frenzy. Usually by the time you got to "u", he was bonkers.

Hysterical.

Also if you stomped the floor he would bark down the floor registers.

If you told him you were putting your shoes on he would start throwing himself at the front door, howling with delight because you were going outside with him.

That dog was a nutcase.

[El Fuego]

26. Our schnauzer said "really" just like Scooby-Doo

We would say "Do you REALLY want this treat Fritzie? REALLY?"

And he would say "Rea-Ree!!!! Rea-Ree!!"

[skygazer]

27. I've had some pretty amazing ones

My Boxer, Dixie, and I were so linked telepathically that we could divine each others thoughts while asleep practically. I remember one day I took my invalid sister for a country drive and of course I had Dix in the car. We'd been driving for a couple of hours when my sister asked me, "Is the dog all right? Do you think she has to pee or anything?"

I looked into the back seat and asked Dix, "Do you have to pee?" She gazed at me and I told my sister, "Nope, she's fine."

"How do you know?!"

I said, "She told me."

About an hour later, I caught Dixie's eye in the rear view mirror. She was still sitting quietly on the seat but I knew. I pulled over and my sister asked me why I was stopping. I said, "Dixie has to pee now." I let her out, she immediately found a spot and peed and then got back in the car.

Drove my sister crazy. She couldn't figure it out to save her life. :)



I also had a horse as a kid - Diablo. He was the cutest, smartest, brattiest little guy on the face of the earth. We had a barn with 2 stalls but no doors and when I fed the horses, I'd put them in their stalls and lay a 2x4 across the opening to keep them in.

One day, I'd put him in his stall and the other horse in hers and I went to get the grain. I heard a *thunk* behind me and whipped around to see that Diablo had ducked under the board and was out of his stall. I pointed at him and told him sternly, "You get back in there right now, Mister!" and he turned around, ducked back under and stood there in the stall looking innocent. :rofl: