Training the Human
Every day, at 4 o’clock, Bumble gets dinner (yummy pellets). Every day, at 3 o’clock, Bumble hops to his bowl, sits down, and waits. If I look in his direction, he stares at me.
If I fail to respond by feeding him, he pulls hay out of the storage drawer and chews it while staring at me.
On cleaning day, Bumble gets a fresh bowl, but it isn’t put out until dinnertime, so he has to make do with sitting in the general vicinity of where his bowl belongs and staring at me.
I’ve never captured this, but on days when he’s decided I’m almost too stupid to teach, he will stare at me, wait for me to make eye contact, dip his nose into his bowl, (“I put my nose in here and pretend to eat my dinner. GET IT?”) and then stare at me again. I’m really grateful he can’t talk on those days.
12 responses so far ↓
bloggingmone // March 12, 2007 at 3:36 am |
My dog used to act up exactly like that. I had a good laugh about Bumble (don’t tell him!). Thanks for that.
sparklematrix // March 12, 2007 at 6:56 am |
*chortle* My cat also does that with his feeding bowl AND the door handle!
“If I stare at the handle and then her (human tin opener) then it will open”
Most cats just meow to be let out!
rootietoot // March 12, 2007 at 11:59 am |
My kids do that. Wait ’til he learns to suck his cheeks in and make waif eyes at the same time.
“Please ma’am, I just want a little pellet or two”
Sally // March 12, 2007 at 1:39 pm |
Companion animals don’t need to talk; they know we can interpret every little nuance of a whisker. My Airedale, when bored and wanting a chat, would walk into the room, look at me, look at my book/tv/occupation, sigh, hunch her shoulders, turn round again slowly and huffily walk right back out of the room, and slump heavily and noisily sighing into her floor cushion. Oh yes, I would call, I heard that.
imfunny2 // March 12, 2007 at 5:04 pm |
Love the new spot! and what marvelous pictures….
manxome // March 12, 2007 at 6:35 pm |
Gawds, I love that bunny!
aradhanad // March 13, 2007 at 9:42 pm |
I’m going to bunny-nap bumble, you can’t do this to me every monday!!!! He’s so dreamy! *sigh*
Pippa // March 14, 2007 at 2:26 am |
he scares me a little bit…tee hee!
ms. jared // March 14, 2007 at 9:53 am |
hee hee hee. that’s AWESOME! bumble is brilliant!
i wish i could say the same about mabel. she is wonderful, but not quite the brightest bulb. the other day she was standing on the edge of the toilet seat watching me get ready for work and when i turned on the blow dryer it startled her and she fell in the toilet then jumped about 20 feet into the air and ran the hell out of there. it was hysterical to me, but i’m sure it was quite traumatizing to her. poor girl.
i *heart* bumble!
veravenom // March 16, 2007 at 9:57 am |
Bumble is freakin’ adorable. Niko (my bunny), when he isn’t fed right on time, flips his bowl over and jumps on it. His water bowl too. He throws tantrums like a toddler.
I suppose I should get him fixed, really.
bipolarworks // March 24, 2007 at 8:36 am |
I think you are just being paranoid …….
Kitty // July 31, 2007 at 9:54 pm |
I feed my guinea pig on demand. I think animals should be able to choose when they eat, just as we do
Loving your blog. Thanks for being so open. And thanks for discouraging Easter bunny buying. Animals aren’t toys.