Moments You Had With Your Pet That Taught You Something New

[Spacescifi]

As a young boy, my dad bought dogs like this:

Spoiler

 

The male one was untrained, and he was the first one we had, so I spent time with him on occasion.

The moment I remember was a day I could not get inside the house as no one was home after achool.

So I decided to try to play with our big hulk of rottweiler.

I threw a ball and wanted him to fetch it, but he just looked at where I threw it. No response. I even put the ball in his mouth, but he just held it, and actually tried to hold onto it if I wanted it back.

Not having any clue how to train a dog, I gave up on playing fetch and decided to play wrestle with my dog.

I figured... I have beaten boys, what is a dog? Sure he has muscles... so do I!

Little did I know how strong he really was. First I tried to grapple and pin him to the ground, but he would not budge. At all .

Next I stepped back several feet, and ran toward him with a lunge I thought would be enough to tackle him.

I literally bounced off of him and fell on my back. At that point I was about to get up for round two when I felt a distinct heaviness on my chest.

Then I looked up and saw him. He was looking straight ahead in the distance panting as always,  with one paw firmly holding me still. He did not seem like he wanted to hurt me as he was not even looking at me as he held me down... he was merely stopping me from what I was doing.

I could not move even though I tried. I told him to get off several times, and eventually, after what seemed an eternity (it was'nt) he did.

It was at that point that I realized my dog was being kind. He could have killed me right then and there if he wanted to but did not.

In the end I apologized to him and gave him a hug. Not sure how much of that he understood, but am betting he understood the hug if nothing else.

 

What are your pet stories where you learned something new?

Edited August 13, 2020 by Spacescifi

[StrandedonEarth]

As a teenager I had a dog (dam was a chihuahua/terrier cross, sire was believed to be a Cocker spaniel) that seemed quite intelligent. It figured out sliding pocket doors no problem, even managing to open it when secured by a hook-and-eye (after which he chewed up my mom’s oil paints, he was lucky neither the paint or mom killed him. Red ev-ry-where!  Including red poop when the snow finally melted). It also opened doors that had a lever for a knob quite easily. 

Mist impressive was the time he was trying to get comfortable on the cement hearth in front of the fireplace. Eventually he went into a bedroom and came back with a pillow, put it on the hearth, lay down with his head on it, and promptly zonked out. 

Edited August 14, 2020 by StrandedonEarth

[Nuke]

im a cat person. you go get you a kitten and its amazing how quickly a tiny adorable ball of floof will become an evil overlord in a few short months. ive owned been enslaved by a lot of cats over the years and ive seen it many times.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Nuke

[Spacescifi]

1 hour ago, StrandedonEarth said:

As a teenager I had a dog (dam was a chihuahua/terrier cross, sire was believed to be a Cocker spaniel) that seemed quite intelligent. It figured out sliding pocket doors no problem, even managing to open it when secured by a hook-and-eye (after which he chewed up my mom’s oil paints, he was lucky neither the paint or mom killed him. Red ev-ry-where!  Including red poop when the snow finally melted). It also opened doors that had a lever for a knob quite easily. 

Mist impressive was the time he was trying to get comfortable on the cement hearth in front of the fireplace. Eventually he went into a bedroom and came back with a pillow, put it on the hearth, lay down with his head on it, and promptly zonked out. 

 

A true master of his domain... as all animals attempt to be. Animal pets spend an absurd amount of time watching their owners, so they know their habits, plus more thanks to special senses they are born with. Namely smell and hearing,  both of which have a greater range detection than humans have.

Basically, we are talking roughly 2 year old intelligence, armed with superhuman hearing, scent, and strength to some degree.

It's no wonder pets pull off the impressive feats they do. They are like two year olds with superpowers.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Spacescifi

[Spacescifi]

51 minutes ago, Nuke said:

im a cat person. you go get you a kitten and its amazing how quickly a tiny adorable ball of floof will become an evil overlord in a few short months. ive owned been enslaved by a lot of cats over the years and ive seen it many times.

 

Cats get a lot of bad comments....  not because they are evil per se, they are just less submissive and it seems also more assertive with their owners than dogs are.

It has been said that dogs treat owners different than fellow dogs, whereas cats treat human owners as big oversized cats with very poor scent and hunting skills.

So if that is true, the relationship to the human for the cat is less master and more friend. And as you know... true friends have no fear of showing how they feel or letting you know what they want.

I have heard stories of cats slapping the cellphone out of the owner's hand during bedtime because he did not like the cell phone in bed while sleeping near his owner. Every night.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Spacescifi

[munlander1]

My dog followed me around the day of a super bad storm. The top of one of our pine trees broke off. The winds were so intense a pair of doors were blown open. About 10-15ft away there were raindrops on my laptops screen.

Now whenever my dog follows me around I check the weather.

[kerbiloid]

3 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

Cats get a lot of bad comments....  not because they are evil per se

They are evil per se. Just a human is too big to eat him, but on the other hand, is enough controllable to be used just for a fistful of meows.

3 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

cats treat human owners as big oversized cats with very poor scent and hunting skills.

As it was described on a cat forum, "a cat treats his human as a big, ugly, and retard, foster mom".

[Gargamel]

65 pound German shepherds, while wearing 20 pounds of gear themselves, while tied to a truck bumper, have no problem pulling said truck up a hill if they see a squirrel. 

[Nuke]

5 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

 

Cats get a lot of bad comments....  not because they are evil per se, they are just less submissive and it seems also more assertive with their owners than dogs are.

It has been said that dogs treat owners different than fellow dogs, whereas cats treat human owners as big oversized cats with very poor scent and hunting skills.

So if that is true, the relationship to the human for the cat is less master and more friend. And as you know... true friends have no fear of showing how they feel or letting you know what they want.

I have heard stories of cats slapping the cellphone out of the owner's hand during bedtime because he did not like the cell phone in bed while sleeping near his owner. Every night.

well i dont consider their evilness a bad thing. its very adorable. my largest cat has a habbit of stealing my pillow at night. she does it every time i go to sleep. il wake up and my pillow is next to me with a fat fluffy tuxedo cat sleeping on it. idk how she pulls it off. some kind of cat voodoo or something. its also fun watching them plot revenge, against people or other cats or even the local wildlife. they will watch their target for hours, even days, and find the perfect opportunity to strike. which can be anything from knocking your stuff down to finding a dead animal in your shoe as a warning. like for example i once found an eagle feather in my room. idk how she caught it, those eagles are huge (your standard issue american bald eagle) and the only cat that is active enough to steal a feather is smaller than they are, and those birds could do some damage if they wanted to. ive found raven feathers too, not as big but still a large bird. perhaps one of her pass times is stealing feathers. 

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Nuke

[Spacescifi]

14 hours ago, Nuke said:

well i dont consider their evilness a bad thing. its very adorable. my largest cat has a habbit of stealing my pillow at night. she does it every time i go to sleep. il wake up and my pillow is next to me with a fat fluffy tuxedo cat sleeping on it. idk how she pulls it off. some kind of cat voodoo or something. its also fun watching them plot revenge, against people or other cats or even the local wildlife. they will watch their target for hours, even days, and find the perfect opportunity to strike. which can be anything from knocking your stuff down to finding a dead animal in your shoe as a warning. like for example i once found an eagle feather in my room. idk how she caught it, those eagles are huge (your standard issue american bald eagle) and the only cat that is active enough to steal a feather is smaller than they are, and those birds could do some damage if they wanted to. ive found raven feathers too, not as big but still a large bird. perhaps one of her pass times is stealing feathers. 

 

 

I doubt the cat does those things because he/she dislikes you.

Cats leave behind dead prey either to get your attention or because they are trying to repay you for feeding them.

In the animal world the one ethic they tend to abide by is this:

You/they get something for something, or you should at least.

If you're cat truly hates you, they will do stuff like pooping/urinating where you sleep and also hiss at you often.

Knocking stuff down can be done for attention, and at times because they are bored.

Still at other times it is might actually because they are upset at you. Or at you for not giving them attention or doing what they want, so they lash out, much like two year olds sometimes do when they don't get their way.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

Cats just know that humans are fond of dead mice (who knows, why?) and bring them to make the human happy and cooperative.
A repay is too abstract idea for them.

[Spacescifi]

14 hours ago, Nuke said:

 

Sorry.

I meant to say "I doubt your cat does the 'evil' things because he/she dislikes you." If anything, in cat terms that means they probably do like you!

A cat surely won't kill anything and leave it behind for an adversary.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Spacescifi

[steve_v]

6 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

Cats leave behind dead prey either to get your attention or because they are trying to repay you for feeding them.

When your cat brings you a juicy rat, it's only polite to eat it. How would you feel if you brought me a gift only to watch me put it straight in the trash?

Little wonder you find crap in your shoe, damn ungrateful humans.

Edited August 14, 2020 by steve_v

[Spacescifi]

38 minutes ago, steve_v said:

When your cat brings you a juicy rat, it's only polite to eat it. How would you feel if you brought me a gift only to watch me put it straight in the trash?

Little wonder you find crap in your shoe, damn ungrateful humans.

 

Haha... it's also worth noting that hunting is the closest thing to working that a cat ever does.

So understand that they also put themselves out for you.

But since cats more or less treat human owners like giant adoptive cat-moms who are very poor at cat communication (scent, visual and sound cues), they see no problem in handing out kills every now and then.

Since as far as the cat is concerned, they probably think you could not hunt your way out of a paper bag, so they in turn kill and bring in portions of stuff any CAT-mom would like.

Problem is, you're not a CAT-mom... yet to the cat? 

Does not matter. You are still getting that dead rat, like it or not, because THAT'S WHAT WE CAT'S DO!!!

APPRECIATE IT! OR AT LEAST PRETEND LIKE YOU DO!

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Spacescifi

[Nuke]

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

When your cat brings you a juicy rat, it's only polite to eat it. How would you feel if you brought me a gift only to watch me put it straight in the trash?

Little wonder you find crap in your shoe, damn ungrateful humans.

unfortunately my cats are terrible hunters. a fresh squirrel from time to time would be nice. i got a recipe i want to try out. 

i generally have good relations with my cats. pretty sure lizzy's pillow stealing shenanegans are out of love or at least its her way of saying "pet me slave".

Edited August 15, 2020 by Nuke

[steve_v]

23 minutes ago, Nuke said:

my cats are terrible hunters.

You'd probably be surprised, were you to stop feeding them, just how quickly they'd revert to half-wild killing machines. A cat that "can't hunt" just isn't hungry enough.
I've caught and re-domesticated several abandoned felines and their ball-of-fury wild kittens over the years, mostly in the name of the local native birds... The cats themselves sure didn't look like they needed saving.

 

1 hour ago, Spacescifi said:

APPRECIATE IT!

I can probably dig up a few fresh rat recipes if you want them, or you could just rewatch Blackadder goes forth, Baldrick is a master chef in this regard.

Edited August 15, 2020 by steve_v

[Spacescifi]

15 minutes ago, steve_v said:

You'd probably be surprised, were you to stop feeding them, just how quickly they'd revert to half-wild killing machines. A cat that "can't hunt" just isn't hungry enough.
I've caught and re-domesticated several abandoned felines and their ball-of-fury wild kittens over the years, mostly in the name of the local native birds... The cats themselves sure didn't look like they needed saving.

 

I can probably dig up a few fresh rat recipes if you want them, or you could just rewatch Blackadder goes forth, Baldrick is a master chef in this regard.

 

Given that wild cats do not eat on regular basis, domesticated ones really do live a life of luxury eating food they would normally 'work' for.

Yet their 'work' instincts are so strong that will attempt to hunt something... even if it's just being a menace by attacking your foot or or by play tackling your toddler.

Cats are not endurance animals, rather they are like tightly wound springs ready to be unwound at any moment in a burst of energy.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Spacescifi

[Nuke]

1 hour ago, Spacescifi said:

Cats are not endurance animals, rather they are like tightly wound springs ready to be unwound at any moment in a burst of energy.

redundant analogy as cats pretty much are springs. my older kitty, at least when he was in his prime, was able to jump 8 feet straight up, and ive seen him do it. 

[Spacescifi]

2 hours ago, Nuke said:

redundant analogy as cats pretty much are springs. my older kitty, at least when he was in his prime, was able to jump 8 feet straight up, and ive seen him do it. 

 

Indeed... their biology is made for it.

I often used to think it would be awesome to jump ten feet into the air and land no problem.

But reality says I weigh short of 200,  and shy of 200 pounds impacting the ground at 1g with relatively small feet to absorb all that force?

Not wise.

As fond as I am of cat humanoid races (since cats are hilarious anyway), biology and physics actually dictates sonething that will not look as... normal as say... catgirls.

Like at best... a catgirl may look like this.

Spoiler

But her feet? If she is human weight and jumping ten feet in the air and landing with no issues, her feet would have to be BIG to absorb all that shock.

I am talking big enough that her feet will be the biggest thing on her.

In fact, the only way you can get a humanoid doing superhuman jumping without injury and no major modifications of the human body is to make them extremely lightweight.

In other words... assume cat-girl literally weighs as much as an average housecat and suddenly... she can jump high no problem.

She is just ridiculously weak now compared to human strenghth LOL.

Physics. Take it or leave it.

You either add or subract when physics comes into play in fiction, nothing is just OK because I wish it to be.

Except FTL/warp!

Edited August 15, 2020 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, Spacescifi said:

If she is human weight and jumping ten feet in the air and landing with no issues, her feet would have to be BIG to absorb all that shock.

Kingsman. Gazelle.

_{The topic predictably (re)turned to catgirls.}

[Nuke]

1 hour ago, Spacescifi said:

 

Indeed... their biology is made for it.

I often used to think it would be awesome to jump ten feet into the air and land no problem.

But reality says I weigh short of 200,  and shy of 200 pounds impacting the ground at 1g with relatively small feet to absorb all that force?

Not wise.

As fond as I am of cat humanoid races (since cats are hilarious anyway), biology and physics actually dictates sonething that will not look as... normal as say... catgirls.

Like at best... a catgirl may look like this.

  Reveal hidden contents

But her feet? If she is human weight and jumping ten feet in the air and landing with no issues, her feet would have to be BIG to absorb all that shock.

I am talking big enough that her feet will be the biggest thing on her.

In fact, the only way you can get a humanoid doing superhuman jumping without injury and no major modifications of the human body is to make them extremely lightweight.

In other words... assume cat-girl literally weighs as much as an average housecat and suddenly... she can jump high no problem.

She is just ridiculously weak now compared to human strenghth LOL.

Physics. Take it or leave it.

You either add or subract when physics comes into play in fiction, nothing is just OK because I wish it to be.

Except FTL/warp!

fortunately springs work in both directions and function as shock absorbers on the way down. 

im not sure the way cats work would translate well to a bipedal form. cats rear legs have long bones with long springy tendons. the elongated foot (of which only the toes and paw pads touch the ground) provides additional mechanical advantage in concert with the knee and hip joint. in rocketry terms, cats have moar boosters. but it doesnt stop there. throughout the jump the legs go from a tightly coiled configuration to fully extended, a lot of travel when compared to the cat's body length, its applying force for a longer amount of time. so cats have more fuel. then you throw on the fast twitch musculature and those boosters get moar thrust, but at a cost to specific impulse (they tire easy). cats are most certainly rockets. cat-shaped rocket contest anyone?

a humanoid biped only has the knee and hip providing much of the work, humanoids do use the foot for leverage when jumping however there is a lot less mechanical advantage. the range of travel is a lot smaller in terms of body height. the muscles are slow twitch for endurance not speed. and another thing we have that cats dont is locking knees. they would probably also need a locking heel as well since both joints are under tension. a bipedal cat will typically stand on fully extended and locked legs, unless they were sprinting. if the total cat height of the standing bipedal cat was a human, its pelvis would be up to about your belly. its torso would be smaller than yours. this cat would probably need human like shoulders if it wanted to do anything useful with them as i think cats have a floating shoulder. the arms would also be shorter and the hand paws smaller as you dont need them for walking anymore (the leg bones likewise would need to be beefier as there is more weight on them). the head would be pretty large, but might be made smaller for less stress on the neck. so this cat would need a vastly different bone structure from either a cat or a human. such a being would be able to jump quite well, especially if they come from a planet with mars-like gravity. i dont think they would sprint very well, but they might do well in an arboreal setting and could hunt large birds with ease, just jump up and grab em. barring locking joints they would have trouble standing or walking for long periods of time. they are definately going to be of lower body mass than the human because of their spindly build. you might be able to have cat girls but they would be a far cry from the anime trope. 

this pretty much sums it up.

Quote

 If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat. -Mark Twain

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by Nuke

[Spacescifi]

19 minutes ago, Nuke said:

fortunately springs work in both directions and function as shock absorbers on the way down. 

im not sure the way cats work would translate well to a bipedal form. cats rear legs have long bones with long springy tendons. the elongated foot (of which only the toes and paw pads touch the ground) provides additional mechanical advantage in concert with the knee and hip joint. in rocketry terms, cats have moar boosters. but it doesnt stop there. throughout the jump the legs go from a tightly coiled configuration to fully extended, a lot of travel when compared to the cat's body length, its applying force for a longer amount of time. so cats have more fuel. then you throw on the fast twitch musculature and those boosters get moar thrust, but at a cost to specific impulse (they tire easy). cats are most certainly rockets. cat-shaped rocket contest anyone?

a humanoid biped only has the knee and hip providing much of the work, humanoids do use the foot for leverage when jumping however there is a lot less mechanical advantage. the range of travel is a lot smaller in terms of body height. the muscles are slow twitch for endurance not speed. and another thing we have that cats dont is locking knees. they would probably also need a locking heel as well since both joints are under tension. a bipedal cat will typically stand on fully extended and locked legs, unless they were sprinting. if the total cat height of the standing bipedal cat was a human, its pelvis would be up to about your belly. its torso would be smaller than yours. this cat would probably need human like shoulders if it wanted to do anything useful with them as i think cats have a floating shoulder. the arms would also be shorter and the hand paws smaller as you dont need them for walking anymore (the leg bones likewise would need to be beefier as there is more weight on them). the head would be pretty large, but might be made smaller for less stress on the neck. so this cat would need a vastly different bone structure from either a cat or a human. such a being would be able to jump quite well, especially if they come from a planet with mars-like gravity. i dont think they would sprint very well, but they might do well in an arboreal setting and could hunt large birds with ease, just jump up and grab em. barring locking joints they would have trouble standing or walking for long periods of time.

this pretty much sums it up.

 

 

Essentially why cat-people are anything but practical.

And the inverse of what twain said is also true... a cat-man ruins the man.

 

A cat's visual acuity is anywhere from 20/100 to 20/200, which means a cat has to be at 20 metres to see what an average human can see at 100 or 200 metres. Cats seem to be nearsighted, which means they cannot see far objects as well. The ability to see close objects would be well-suited for hunting and capturing prey.

 

Which means anything past that blur of a figure.

Cat hearing has more range, which also means some sounds are less distinct, while others are more so.

And smell? Does a human really want scent that good LOL?

That includes knowimg WAYY more about people around you that you may or may NOT wanna know.

Like: That person did number 2 not long ago, that person ate mexican food earlier, and I know what that person did earlier.

You literally have to cherrypick the abilities you want while leaving out others.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

3 hours ago, Nuke said:

this pretty much sums it up.

Brief version:
It's easier to sew cat-like ears to the girl.

3 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

that person ate mexican food earlier

If spicy food could stay edible.

[Nuke]

9 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

 

Essentially why cat-people are anything but practical.

And the inverse of what twain said is also true... a cat-man ruins the man.

 

A cat's visual acuity is anywhere from 20/100 to 20/200, which means a cat has to be at 20 metres to see what an average human can see at 100 or 200 metres. Cats seem to be nearsighted, which means they cannot see far objects as well. The ability to see close objects would be well-suited for hunting and capturing prey.

 

Which means anything past that blur of a figure.

Cat hearing has more range, which also means some sounds are less distinct, while others are more so.

And smell? Does a human really want scent that good LOL?

That includes knowimg WAYY more about people around you that you may or may NOT wanna know.

Like: That person did number 2 not long ago, that person ate mexican food earlier, and I know what that person did earlier.

You literally have to cherrypick the abilities you want while leaving out others.

i always though cats were actually farsighted. you also have a completely different eyeball geometry, supposedly cats with stilted pupils see the world in widescreen. some wild and big cats have round pupils. they got a floating retina and a reflective membrane in the back of the eye, so the retina gets hit from both sides, effectively doubling the sensitivity. there are plenty of cat vision simulations on youtube.

cool thing about cat hearing is that it is directional, its like one of those parabolic microphones that can hear what the neibors down the street are saying while eliminating ambient noises. whats more they can be actively targeted. a more evolved cat brain might also have better audio processing such that they can effectively "see" sound. house cats are already really good at precisely localising sounds. i could be on my workbench and drop a tiny screw on the floor and one of the cats would quickly find it and investigate, hopefully i can pick it up before they bat it across the room.

i dont think a strong sense of smell would be all that bad, especially if you are used to it. it would be totally gross to suddenly get a stronger sense of smell. cat pee has a very strong scent, but most cat people usually grow numb to it over time. yet when non-cat-people enter the room they almost always recoil to the smell.

sensory wise i think an evolved kitty would make a very good soldier provided they avoid hand to hand paw to paw combat. probibly not your grunts but perhaps your spec ops, artilliary spotters, scouts, snipers, etc. 

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, Nuke said:

sensory wise i think an evolved kitty would make a very good soldier

It would first desert, then loot,