What games does your resident animal enjoy the most?

My cat loves hide and seek. She hides and my daughter looks for her.Cat usually takes a nap during the game.

My dog’s favourite game was getting me to throw sticks or balls and then running away with them instead of bringing them back. Some retriever. Hah.

@downtide Yes, I am trying to teach Frodo the concept of fetch but he pretends to not get it. Keep away is much more fun.

Both dogs love walks to smell-heavy places like woods or streams. Both love to cuddle on the couch. Kobe enjoys running in circles in the back yard like it’s a track.

My birds love to be allowed to roam/ fly the entire house and find goodies, like fresh juice or treats inside a new toy, etc…or just hang with their mom (me).

The dogs like to play tug with each other and wild dog around the back yard as fast as they can.

At 13, my cat still pounces on and fights with my hand when it’s moving under the blanket. He also likes to do battle with tiny stuffed mice when he periodically encounters them on the floor.

@marinelife Frodo also loves patrolling the perimeter in a figure eight and keeping it safe from marauders.

My cats enjoy their laser pointer, paper bags, string and ribbon, zinging around my pony tail elastics and all manner of other toys. Last night I came home with a baggy full of freshly harvested catnip that my daughter grew this year…it was a party to beat all parties, although my big male Ragdool “Myles” ended up eating too much of it and threw up. Catnip overdose, it must have been some good shit! Kitty Columbian. lol

My cat used to like me to crawl up the stairs. She would go crazy, and I had to stop on every step so she could head butt me.

My dog likes playing tug-of-war with her toys. She also loves fetch, but only if a dummy is involved. Most of all, she loves when humans blow at her face or make buzzing noises – she goes crazy trying to attack.

Sitting on important papers while the resident adult is trying to read or write on them. Often finding the edges are easily nibbled and delicious. Who cares if I change the number by a digit or two?

And don’t get me started on the seductiveness of keyboards and the very tasty surrounding cables and wires, particulary if sprinkled with just a soupçon of A negative blood.

I had a cat who would want to play fetch for an hour at a time. If I became busy with other things (as one must), he would just stand there looking forlorn with a crumpled ball of paper in his mouth, until I felt sufficiently guilted into playing again.

Edit: Huh. The word “baleful” does not mean what I thought it meant. ;)

Chew the Ducky

Puppy Fitness
where she runs back and forth really fast between two rooms for a while

Lick @cookieman’s Face

I am trying to teach Frodo the concept of fetch but he pretends to not get it. Keep away is much more fun.

A friend has a puppy and I discovered that sitting down fixes that.

He grasps that he has to bring me the ball for more action.

Grouse Pheasant Quail.

@glacial: This is baleful.

@ucme Is your dog a hunting dog?

I’m thinking of getting a laser light for Frodo. A friend says her dog goes bananas for it.

Anyone else have one?

@janbb Not so’s you’d notice no, just a play on the word game that’s all.

@ucme Aha – Well, maybe Frodo and Penny could get together and play whist.

@janbb: We have one; Milo has always ignored it. I’d send you mine but they’re so cheap that shipping and handling wouldn’t be worth it.

@gailcalled Maybe it’s a dog thing then. And thanks.

@janbb I’m more impressed than I should be that you recall her name.

Molly likes Snout the best, which is a game we invented. It’s like the dog version of thumb wrestling – I try to grasp her snout before she grasps my hand. I don’t recommend this game for nippy dogs, though, as it might give them the wrong idea. Or dogs with short snouts, I guess.

Two puppies 2 years old play tug a war with a 10” rubber ball with holes in so they can run with and pull at each other. Solo event is “digging to China” trying to catch moles, backyard looks like a battle field right now with no less than twenty-five holes ten or twelve inches in diameter. In house they have tennis ball that they take turns rolling to each other.

Dog…

Fetch. Well, not fetch. She’ll go get it, but you have to fight her to get it back.

Tug of war. It’s sad because it’s her favorite game but we can’t do it a lot because she has hip dysplasia and shouldn’t rear back on her legs like they do while tugging.

Chase. Shh, don’t tell my husband. He always says if we play with her like that, she’ll think it’s okay to run away from us at any time. Oh well, she likes it.

Laser chase. Aka psycho puppy play time.

Cat…

Fetch: Much better than the dog. She likes us to fling hair ties across the room and she’ll bring it back every time.

Laser chase. She’ll do flips for it.

Biting/hugging: She likes to attack freshly cleaned toes, bite shins while I sit on the toilet, and be held like a baby while she grabs our hand and sinks her sharp little teeth into our flesh.

Oh, and they annoy/play with each other. And the pup has a new gash on her nose to prove it.

@livelaughlove21 A tip for bitey cats: blow a short puff of air into their faces. It really worked to train my big guy.

Tennis ball fetch.

Rope tug-of-war.

Many items keep away.

Our dog loves to play ‘Monopoly’, but hates it when she loses (or has to sit in ‘Jail’ while winning). She also seemed quite pleased a few years ago when the Giants beat New England in the Super Bowl, thereby spoiling the Patriots’ bid for a perfect season….

My Jack Russell loves playing tuggy! She used to enjoy running after a ball but now that she is mostly blind she struggles. I am trying to reintroduce the game with a bell inside the ball so she can hear it. At the moment she isn’t convinced but I’m hoping she gets the hang of it at some point!

@gailcalled Ha! He doesn’t look very threatening to me. :)

My Rottie used to love to smack books out of my hands. It was like she was saying “how dare you ignore me!”.

@wildpotato We don’t mind it. She never bites unless she’s playing.

Oh, forgot football. Another favourite.

Is watching animal planet a ‘game’ because in my house it seems like one, hilarious when they run to the tv trying to play!

My two dogs like to play Guess Which One Of Us Just Farted and Let’s Suddenly Jump Up And Start Barking At Nothing In Particular.

@Blondesjon I wake up to dog butt’s in my face all the time, and yeah, those silent killers are deadly sometimes, even with 15lb dogs…lol

One of my dogs loves to catch and retrieve her extra-large, super heavy duty black Kong. The darn thing is heavy but at least she can’t chew it up as she did to the standard reddish ones.
My other dog, the larger one is more timid. She likes the chase the small reddish Kong when it is rolled on the floor near her rather than tossed for her to catch.

My mice love to play a game in which they try to grab and chew my clothing when I approach their cage….needless to say, the joy is very one-sided.

My fish enjoy playing “Feed Me!” (Really! Whenever I go near the aquarium, whether with the intention to feed them or not, they gather near me and follow me wherever I go)

@wildpotato thanks for the bitey cats tip. @anniereborn owns a bitey cat, I’ll pass it on.