Have an animal companion, dog or cat? Chances are, you think your companion is a good dog/cat.

[raccoon]

I know I do.

What behaviors would you call being a "bad" dog/cat/bird/salamander, etc.?

[hobbit709]

1. Mostly good

But the Wheezie isn't also known as The Devious And Conniving Little Weasel without good reason.

[zanne]

5. She does look like a little hell-dog.

But a cute one. I want her!

[hobbit709]

7. Here she is when she's good

[zanne]

12. She looks so lovable. nt

[raccoon]

6. Looks like a dog we had ages ago. nt

[TZ]

2. I love my cats but they can be spoiled brats.

I would call clawing me for attention at 4:30 in the morning bad. As would be knocking things off the nightstand/counter to get my attention (they've broken several things that way) Getting into the garbage can...I love them to death, but my kitties are very very naughty...

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

3. I could write a book on this one

My little Piglet was hell on four legs but I loved her all the more for it.

For starters, if she didn't want to do something, like say walk where we humans wanted to walk, she'd just put her feet down and refuse to walk any further. She ran the show.

She also liked to sneak into the garbage can and recycling basket when we left her home alone, which was rare.

Then there was the time we came home to find that she had gotten into my purse and somehow gotten every item in it out and had chewed up a whole pack of gum, some medication and two tubes of lipstick. Yes Virginia, you really can put lipstick on a pig. Her face and front paws were covered in lipstick.

She slept with us and for some reason chose my husband's pillow as the spot she thought was just right when she wasn't under the covers. She took to tricking him out of bed by barking once and then running to the front door. He'd get up and go to the bathroom before getting ready to take her out and when he was dressed and had his shoes on she was nowhere to be found...until he came into the bedroom and found her sound asleep on his pillow.

Then there was the whole unfriendly with other dogs and the hunting instinct. She had a few run ins with hedgehogs but never learned her lesson.

My friends and family called her Devil Dog but I like to think that she had spunk and a great personality.

[hunter]

10. My "bad dogs" are the ones I remember with the most fondness.

When I was a teenager we lived in a semi-rural area at the end of a long driveway. We had a big round dog who mostly ate, slept, and waddled around sniffing the bushes, two harmless looking smaller dogs, and an Aussie mix.

Our dogs used to make a huge ruckus whenever the United Parcel Service van came up the driveway. Our dogs could never figure out why we didn't think the UPS man was dangerous, and why we just ignored him whenever he dropped parcels off on our front doorstep. When he would drive away the dogs were always very pleased with themselves for having chased him away without having to resort to anything worse than barking from a safe distance.

Unfortunately our brightest dog, the Aussie mix and the second brightest dog I've ever known, decided one day she was going to make sure we knew for once and for all what evil the UPS man was up to. While the other dogs were barking at the UPS man in the usual way, she climbed into his van taking a defensive position behind the driver's seat.

I was in the house and I noticed the dogs were making a huge racket, much louder than usual, and I heard the UPS man yelling "GET OUT! GET OUT! BAD DOG!"

I jumped up and ran outside and our bright dog was standing proudly in the UPS van as if she'd just cornered an exceptionally troublesome sheep. The rest of the dogs were fanned out all around him and they were very excited to be part of such a spectacular display of dog pack talent and teamwork. At last they'd captured the terrible UPS man!

I called the dogs off and they were all so damned happy and proud. Ms. Bright strutted out of the UPS van giving a quick warning glance to the UPS man that she would do it again if he ever got out of line. I apologized to him profusely, hoping he wouldn't complain to our county animal control or blacklist us from UPS deliveries forever.

He didn't do either but afterward whenever the UPS drivers would come up our driveway they would simply throw the parcels out the door onto the driveway without leaving their vans.

Our bad dog was also a trickster and a thief like your Piglet. She knew she wasn't allowed in the garbage or compost pails, she knew she wasn't allowed to steal food off the counters or table, but she always had an extremely keen sense of what she might get away with if nobody was looking. If she wasn't sleeping soundly she always had this look that she was thinking, calculating. I never once saw her with that empty relaxed look so many dogs have -- .... dum dee dee dee dum I'm just a dog isn't it great... dum dee dee...

The good "bad" dogs are the very best. I'm thinking about your Piglet stealing your husband's pillow, and her story makes me smile.

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

13. Oh hunter

your story made me smile even more. Pig never liked the UPS man when she lived in the US either but she wasn't big enough to high jack his rig. She would have if she could though! :pals:

[Bertha Venation]

4. Daddy is a bad cat. It is the way he was raised.

When he came to us he was an adult, but you can tell how a cat was treated in kittenhood by watching him as an adult.

He prowls wherever there is food. He is underfoot or on the counters in the kitchen. When we first adopted him, when we ate he was literally in our faces, trying to claw food off the fork. He's learned the discipline of the squirt bottle, but it doesn't stop him from making those first attempts.

He's also a bully. Definitely the alpha cat.

But we love him like crazy. When he's sweet, he is just the sweetest cat on the planet.

[Pharlo]

8. Mine aren't just 'good' dogs, they are THE BEST dogs.

Little angels, darlings, my furbabies. Names like "The Damn Mutts", "Fiends from Hell" and "Spawn of the Devil" are just my terms of endearment for the precious angels.

[fizzgig]

9. my cats actually are remarkably well-behaved

they're pests and feel the need to be on me when i'm sitting down, but no behavioral problems.

to me, bad behavior is not using the box, scratching the furniture, taking or attempting to take food from my plate and getting on the counters. my fat cat once tried to swipe an onion ring from my hand as i was about to eat, but one bop on the nose cured her of that.

[Withywindle]

11. I know my cat is a seriously twisted little fiend from the Pit

but I love her anyway. I think it's Stockholm Syndrome.

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. Salamander! Where IS Sally Mander these days?

:hi:

[TrogL]

15. She's a cat's cat

I think "good" animals are actually rather pathetic, like a dog that cowers every time you look at it.

My cat behaves like a cat, not a little human. As long as she poops in the litter box, claws the clawing post instead of the couch and sits in my lap when I'm feeling down, that's all I ask.

The rest of the time she can raise holy hell for all I care. I'll pick a fight just to get a rise out of her.

[Arugula Latte]

16. Basically my kitties can do no wrong in my eyes.

I don't like it when the one out of the three scratches the couch. That's the only thing that truly bothers me.

Other than that, I let 'em do what they want -- walk on counters, jump on tables, sleep on my head.

They bring me joy 24/7. :loveya:

[BuelahWitch]

17. My current kitty is a goofball

She likes to shred things. I know that is supposedly normal for cats, but she's the first one I've had who has ever done it. She also has this habit of lying in her litterbox sometimes. And it isn't always clean when she does it. She doesn't do it as much now as she did when she first came to live with me, but she will every so often to get my attention.
But most of the time she's very good. When she crawls up on my lap for a cuddle I forget all about the bad stuff. I couldn't give the little stinker up even if I wanted to.

[EndersDame]

18. My puppy is a little hell demon but she is MY hell demon

I have never had a puppy (dog with some training already yes kitties yes ) before training her is exhausting but she is totally worth it. She has personality in spades. on edit any advice would be helpful regarding barking and nipping ankles
here is a cell pic of her chasing chickens


here is one when I first found her

[A-Schwarzenegger]

19. Nothing but Trouble...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=624815

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. My cats are wonderful.

-- even when they shred the furniture, puke on the rug, steal my car keys, walk on my head at night, and steal food off my plate. They are good kitties and I love them.

[TZ]

28. LOL. My kitties have decided that I need to wake up at 5am everyday

And once they wake me up they leave..:crazy: BTW..I said to Sophie this morning, are you a naughty kitty...she went MEOW! --I'm translating that to "Of course!". :)

[Strong Atheist]

21. Bad: big dogs that jump on people or poke them in the

...

other, as Unreal Tournament says.

I hate that, and their owners...

[Mad_Dem_X]

22. My doggie is very well behaved

Whoever trained him did a great job (he's a rescue). The only time he's bad is when he does something I've told him not to do (like jump up on people).

[applegrove]

23. My kitten taught the older cat how to scratch the furniture. I wasn't home to discipline

so they have together destroyed the couch. Also the big male Monster does try to dominate me sometimes. He'll bite. Then I bite him right back. Then he tries to make friends.

[astral]

24. Yep, my cat is a good cat.

He's a great cat. Laid-back disposition, sense of humor, very expressive with me (and he has that teeny-tiney Maine Coone Cat voice so expressing himself sounds so cute and I know exactly what he is trying to tell me.)

He's a little - buddy kinda cat, I can't think of any kinda person he wouldn't be a great companion for except maybe someone who's allergic to cats.

I think people get 'bad' pets sometimes, though, but if they misbehave alot it takes up alot of your energy. In general (and I could certainly be wrong about this) a bad pet's habits can be changed if one is firm and consistent with the pet about the behavior that needs to be changed.

Cats, however should be allowed to keep their CLAWS, and be allowed to have something to SCRATCH their claws on. Furthermore, they should not be expected to have their bed on the floor, they like to be above the ground when they snooze. Except of course when they feel like flopping on the floor and falling asleep.

[Generic Brad]

25. My cat is sarcastic

Sarcastic is good when you're small and furry. But if you're big and fat like me, it is annoying.

[wearenotmissing]

26. two border collies

My border collies are brilliant!! They are so funny, smart and cuddly. They are a part of our family. WOuldn't be without them.

[busybl]

27. my dog never does bad stuff

ok, she has a backstory. I got her at a shelter. She was wandering around a naval air base. We don't know how long. Her hair looked like Nick Nolte's mug shot. She was so scared of humans she would cringe
in the crate and snarl if you tried to touch her.
She is about 6 lbs and is a mix of maltese and mystery dog. It took about 2 days for her to like me. I left her in her crate with door open. OK, that's all past. Now she likes people and she likes other critters.
My point, and I do have one, is that she is the most well behaved dog I've ever met. It's obvious she has had a lot of training. she won't even go thru the door ahead of me. I keep finding new things she knows.
I've only had her since Jan 09.
oh wait, I take it back. She chewed off the tops of some expensive Canadian boots. oops