My dog has "First World Problems" -- how about your pets?

[Denninmi]

I really like that term, it's a pretty good way of describing spoiled, over the top behavior that people with real problems in life would just scoff at.

My dog is extremely spoiled. Whose fault it that? Not mine -- family members did it. (Yes, that is my story, and I am sticking too it!)

Among his "First World Problems":

1) I keep a quilt on the sofa to collect the dog hair and keep the upholstery clean. When I have to pull it off to straighten it, or when I brush/vacuum it off, which takes a minute, he lays there, watches, and whines until he can go back up on the sofa. When I have to wash it, the whining can get pretty intense for a few minutes until he gives up in disgust and lays elsewhere until it is clean and back on. Oh, and when he is up on the sofa, he likes a pillow underneath the cover to rest his head on.

2) Tap water is not good enough -- it has to be bottled water, and preferably with ice in it. Yet, he can drink out of a fetid puddle outdoors (thank God he's not a toilet bowl drinker).

3) He must be hand-fed -- only dog I know of who could starve to death surround be plates of food on the floor. The whining, again, can be intense until someone breaks down and feeds him.

4) I have a tie-out at the back door to put him out as needed (I don't leave him out there, it's just a quick 5 minutes to do what he has to do, and possibly bark at a jogger or someone walking a poodle on the pedestrian path). If he thinks he should go on the leash instead, he nudges the leash, and then lays in front of the back door and rolls over belly up until he gets his way.

5) We cannot say "ride" unless we want epic whining and hyper behavior until he gets in the car.

6) In the summer, he likes to lay where the cold air comes out of the air conditioner, but only if he has a blanket on the wood floor.

7) Dog food? You expect me to eat dog food? He gets a special diet formulated by the vet to control blood sugar (he is now diabetic) -- which consists of lean meat, vegetables, and limited carbs plus supplements. The more expensive the cut of meat, the better we like it. Which is actually ok, the prescription diabetic diet is nasty, first ingredients are by-products, yuck.

8) At Christmas and birthdays, he loves to open wrapped presents. Which is fine if he would stop at his -- he wants to tear into everyone's presents, and he knows the word "present".

So, who else has a really spoiled pet.

[2theleft]

1. peanut butter sandwiches...

When my monster was a puppy (shelter pup, brought him home at 8 weeks), he grew and grew and grew. Like 10 lbs a month. Starving all of the time. Would wake me up in the middle of the night to eat no matter how much I fed him during the day or how many times he got his food. Many visits to the vet - he was perfectly healthy, not too skinny, eating a high quality food (Wellness). A friend of mine at work told me her dog was the same, so she started giving him a peanut butter sandwich at bedtime and he would sleep all night.

And guess what? It worked. He slept like a champ. All night. It was awesome. Until now, at 6, he REFUSES to go to bed unless he's had his sandwich. Seriously. He will NOT go to bed. He will stand by the bed and bark at me until he gets it.

[Denninmi]

2. Sounds about right.

They know what they want and how to get it.

[N.I.B.]

10. They sure do don't they

And what first world dog doesn't LOVE.




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[hobbit709]

6. Dog spelled backwards is god

And like any god must be properly propitiated.

[ChazII]

3. We have a blanket on the couch but

only one other item applies to our family. We don't say the 'w' or 'l' word. Walk or leash.

[olddots]

4. our dogs stopped taking Prozac and became Scientologists

Now we have to shlepp them to the celebrity center on Franklin every Friday to listen to Tom Cruise explain " CLEAR " .

[sakabatou]

5. My cat will not go through the cat door.

She'll whine until you open the main door.

[Duer 157099]

7. Mine does the present thing

She LOVES unwrapping presents! Doesn't matter if it is for her or not. But, she won't do it unless we give it to her to unwrap. It's become her job. And somehow she knows the difference between the wrapping paper and the gift, because she doesn't harm the gift inside.

I think it's adorable. She truly loves it.

She doesn't destroy anything else, ever.

[RebelOne]

8. My Chihuahua is totally spoiled.

She will not eat dog food of any kind. She only likes cheese and will not eat any cheese other than Colby Jack, Monterey and Cheddar. No processed cheese foods for her. She loves Pop-Tarts and ice cream. And for treats, she will only eat duck jerky.

She sleeps with me and is usually still asleep a couple of hours after I get up. Than she barks for me to come and get her though she could easily jump down off the bed.

[RILib]

13. She doesn't like havarti?

[Quantess]

9. They accept a treat only because they are polite...

then they walk a couple of steps away and drop the treat.

[backwoodsbob]

11. my wierdest spoiled situation

I had a female shepperd in Detroit who developed a thing for radishes of all things.And BY GOD you better have a few radishes for her every single time you went to the fridge or you got the stinkeye from an angry German Shepperd

[nomorenomore08]

12. Our 16-year-old cat - who we actually adopted just a few years ago - was a lifelong indoor pet

now converted to semi-outdoor, which she does not approve of. Constantly whines to be let in, even though we can't trust her in the house without supervision, thanks to her propensity for "marking territory" i.e. pissing and shitting everywhere. And for an old, sickly (bad thyroid) cat, she sure is quick and agile. A handful to say the least. Our other cat, who sadly died a couple months ago - at the comparatively young age of 11 - was an angel by contrast. Even though he scratched the shit out of nearly everything scratchable.