What's your dog (or cat's) nemesis?

[lavenderblue]

Anyone who ever dares walk by my house basically LOL All three dogs will go crazy if they see someone near our yard. They are actually super friendly dogs once you are in our yard, but if you are walking by you are apparently the biggest threat to them they've ever seen.

[liverandonions]

Fed Ex and UPS, and the leaf blower

[livinitup]

Our dog is at war with the USPS mail truck. Clearly a danger to all persons and property within his domain. When outside, he will accept all treats thrown by the USPS driver but those are saved and eaten after the interloper is run off.

All doorbells will received immediate and ferocious barking at the door. This included doorbells rung on the TV. The Space Cowboy song is NOT welcomed to be played in our home. Obviously.

My cat is quite chill. I don’t think anything bothers him. Even my elderly black & white cat would overcome arthritis to catch mice like Flash Jordon. Not this guy, he just watched me pick it up with a pair of thongs.

[wise_rita]

Fly swatter!

She came from a good home (about 1.5 years there) so I don't believe she was intentionally hit with one, but the poor thing is terrified. My guess is she accidentally got in the way of one (this tracks with her nature of inserting herself into situations) and has been traumatized ever since.

[moreace01]

My dog growing up hated men with mustaches and/or beards. Anyone else was relatively fine.


Squirrels taunt my cats, but that's about it.

[dexteroni]

Outside of the standard stuff like thunder and fireworks - Toby hates the garden hose. He doesn’t try to bite or attack it; he runs for the hills when anyone uses it. If he’s outside with me, I let him back in the house before I water the garden.

Sadie’s is large gatherings where people are in multiple rooms. She’s a border collie and will try to herd everyone into one room. Thank goodness we have an open kitchen / family room or she would lose her mind when we host parties. But she’ll also try to go “get” people who end up in the living room and bring them into where everyone else is. We’re working on it.

Funnily, neither of our current dogs mind the vacuum. We can run it right next to them and they could care less.

[Scout'sHonor]

All other dogs, despite our efforts, he likes to run the fence with the neighbor dogs. Any dogs on tv, he has to bark at.

The UPS truck, it beeps when it's parked and he hates it.

Vacuums, lawn tools, brooms, etc., he must fight them.

If we run around the house or dance, he goes crazy, no antics allowed (he's a herding dog)

Cardboard is his only true fear. H put him in a box once as a puppy and he flipped his shit. Now, even showing him like a tissue box and he runs off.

[mrsd2006]

The usual critters, and anyone that comes to our front door- Fedex, Amazon, UPS

For one of my labs- it's things that buzz and beep. If she hears a fly buzzing loudly or a bee in the house she wants to get in your lap. Same with beeps- the beep that FB Messenger and MS Teams makes in particular. She will want to come sit in your lap- and she's a 75 pound lab.

[penelope]

The shop vac. He's totally ok with the robot vacuum or an upright. Floor scrubber, no probs. But man, if that shop vac ever comes to life and tries to take over the world, my dog has our back. The hose is full of teeth marks from him attacking it.

The UPS truck. It can be three houses down and he freaks out. Doesn't care about the mailman or FedEx, just UPS.

[donutsmakemegonuts]

She chases squirrels when she sees them in the yard. They come up onto our patio and stand there just to mess with her, I think. Anytime I let her outside, she bolts around the yard even if there aren't any around. On the flip side, she hates thunderstorms and the yard maintenance crew when they come. She gets so scared and starts shaking.

[circa1978]

Cardboard and the garden hose are my favorites so far. Is anyone on the board secretly an animal communicator? We need to get to the bottom of those.

[onomatopoeia]

Our current dog hates balloons, that's about it. She's actually the nemesis of the dog across the street who barks like a maniac whenever they are both out. Our dog just looks at her from our yard and prances around like she wants to play.

Our last dog hated motorcycles.

[puppylove64]

One dog is terrified of balloons. He will claw through you to hide from balloons. The puppy will run and jump and bop them with her nose and is an adorable joy with them 🤣

[bears]

My dog is the nemesis of two dog owners who hate her. They have two small hounds (maybe 30 lbs) and when they see my dog, the owners flee from her. They literally turn around, jump into bushes, trespass across lawns, anything to escape.

It's so fucking weird since my dog is about the same size, super-friendly, and I see them approach other people with dogs constantly! Why do they hate her?

[atexan]

Sept 30, 2024 10:50:42 GMT -5 donutsmakemegonuts said:

She chases squirrels when she sees them in the yard. They come up onto our patio and stand there just to mess with her, I think. Anytime I let her outside, she bolts around the yard even if there aren't any around. On the flip side, she hates thunderstorms and the yard maintenance crew when they come. She gets so scared and starts shaking.

The squirrels in our yard 100% fuck with our dog. They stand where he can see them through the sliding glass doors, and if we let him out they jump on top of the fence and tut-tut at him. One of the doors has recently gone wonky in its track, and we're pretty sure it's from the dog hurling his body into the door trying to get at them. We could close the blinds but I worry they would take over the yard. They bring pecan shells from our neighbor's tree and leave them all over the yard and driveway. Little assholes.

[186momx]

Canes especially men who wear hates and have canes. I think when she was in the pound as a puppy one of the male workers used a pole and wore a hat to get in. She gets very defensive.

Chihuahuas. When we did agility these two chihuahuas tormented her. She sees one now and instantly will stop and put her tail between her legs and hid behind me. What is funny is the owners always pick the barking devils up and act like my cowering lab is super mean and causing their baby to freak out.

[mommyatty]

Sept 30, 2024 13:01:00 GMT -5 atexan said:

Sept 30, 2024 10:50:42 GMT -5 donutsmakemegonuts said:

She chases squirrels when she sees them in the yard. They come up onto our patio and stand there just to mess with her, I think. Anytime I let her outside, she bolts around the yard even if there aren't any around. On the flip side, she hates thunderstorms and the yard maintenance crew when they come. She gets so scared and starts shaking.

The squirrels in our yard 100% fuck with our dog. They stand where he can see them through the sliding glass doors, and if we let him out they jump on top of the fence and tut-tut at him. One of the doors has recently gone wonky in its track, and we're pretty sure it's from the dog hurling his body into the door trying to get at them. We could close the blinds but I worry they would take over the yard. They bring pecan shells from our neighbor's tree and leave them all over the yard and driveway. Little assholes.

Maybe it’s Texas squirrels! We have two that literally throw stuff at our windows where our cats like to nap and chatter at the cats! When two of the cats go outside, the squirrels run up the trees and chatter at them. I’m waiting for our outside boy to drag a grown squirrel to our back door one day.

[bbdoll]

We have a seasonal camp near Lake Erie. There is one dog, in the whole campground, that my dog goes absolutely nuts when he/she comes around. She growls and fights to get to the other dog. Every other dog can trot right by and it doesn't even phase her.

[wanderlustmom]

Our dog has a lot of anxieties and she's pretty aloof to anyone except her immediate human family. She's had a few dog friends over the years but seems mostly content to play alone. I don't think she would want us to get a puppy. She doesn't really like people to pet her and isn't that interested in other people or pets on our walk. She won't bark at them thankfully but she just stays by us. She likes to cuddle with us but on her terms and likes to sleep alone. I make her sound so bad but she's affectionate and loves to play (especially fetch) but only with the three of us. Occasionally she will like another dog (smaller only) or a human (usually the really sweet calm ones.) She's really scared of rain, thunder, fireworks and cars.

[expectantsteelerfan]

My old dog was terrified of balloons, and we had her when DS was a baby and he was OBSESSED with balloons. His first word was 'oon' meaning balloon. So that was fun. When we got our current 8 year old dog, ds still loved balloons, and he was tickled when this dog once stole the string of a helium balloon from his hand like a dog toy and ran off with it.

I thought of 2 more for our current 8 year old dog...cameras and when our phones buzz. We was terrified of having her picture taken and would run from a camera, and also a phone that's not on silent. Luckily she got over the phone thing as long as it's on silent. But she also equates that the buzz it makes from vibrating for ANY notification as a ring notification and EVERY time any phone vibrates, she runs to the front door to check.

I'm trying to think of what it would be for my 5 year old dog. She will literally let the Roomba run into her, doesn't mind the regular vacuum, doesn't mind thunder and is fine during fireworks. Oh! She is a coward for medical stuff. If I come near her with ear cleaner liquid, nail clippers, etc she gets scared and tries to run away from me.

[DotAndBuzz]

Older dog (half chihuahua, half schnauzer) HATES the vacuum. Tries to attack it every time it's out. There's also another dog in the neighborhood, a chocolate lab, who is her mortal enemy. They had one interaction when she was like 2, and the other dog was a SUPER energetic puppy and startled her, and they've been enemies ever since.

Younger dog is a Havanese, loves everyone and everything, and just does what the older dog does. If the older dog starts barking, younger one LEAPS off the couch, and runs across the house like "OH YAY! WE'RE BARKING! FUN FUN! WHAT ARE WE BARKING AT?"

[CurlyQ284]

Not my current dog, but a bulldog we had until she passed away was insane. After a year of living in our first house she noticed the ceiling fan and then once she noticed it she growled at it intermittently for a weekend 🤣

[deadwing]

Oct 1, 2024 14:13:39 GMT -5 wanderlustmom said:

Our dog has a lot of anxieties and she's pretty aloof to anyone except her immediate human family. She's had a few dog friends over the years but seems mostly content to play alone. I don't think she would want us to get a puppy. She doesn't really like people to pet her and isn't that interested in other people or pets on our walk. She won't bark at them thankfully but she just stays by us. She likes to cuddle with us but on her terms and likes to sleep alone. I make her sound so bad but she's affectionate and loves to play (especially fetch) but only with the three of us. Occasionally she will like another dog (smaller only) or a human (usually the really sweet calm ones.) She's really scared of rain, thunder, fireworks and cars.

My younger dog is a trauma rescue and shares many of these traits - especially cuddling on her terms and sleeping alone.  Occasionally she will doze next to me on the couch and it feels like a huge compliment that she's comfortable enough to fall asleep with me.  My girl LOVES people, though.  Her favorite thing ever is to be petted by a new person.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

The printer. Our cat comes barreling down to the printer to get whatever is coming out from wherever she is. She broke the little arm that keeps multiple pages in a neat stack. Dick

[circa1978]

ProfessorArtNerd, she's just trying to protect you! Digital forward kitty!

[picksthemusic]

Sept 29, 2024 20:28:04 GMT -5 katfco said:

My cat hates anyone who comes in our house with shoes, especially workmen and their heavy boots.

I have one skittish cat that hates any and all people that she doesn't know being in the house (especially workers with heavy boots). She hides under the bed/couch/covers. My other cat, however, will come and greet them with her tail high and then supervise everything and anything they do. I tell them she's my quality inspector.

[hermione]

Our black lab hates water, retrieving, and he could do without the cat if he's being honest.

[pinkpeony08]

The cordless Dyson with the floor/longer attachment. It's both best friend and enemy. Doesn't care if you use the same vacuum with a short attachment or the corded vacuum- will literally just walk away. Meanwhile it's virtually impossible to vacuum with the cordless vacuum if she is inside!

[wanderlustmom]

Oct 2, 2024 8:03:46 GMT -5 deadwing said:

Oct 1, 2024 14:13:39 GMT -5 wanderlustmom said:

Our dog has a lot of anxieties and she's pretty aloof to anyone except her immediate human family. She's had a few dog friends over the years but seems mostly content to play alone. I don't think she would want us to get a puppy. She doesn't really like people to pet her and isn't that interested in other people or pets on our walk. She won't bark at them thankfully but she just stays by us. She likes to cuddle with us but on her terms and likes to sleep alone. I make her sound so bad but she's affectionate and loves to play (especially fetch) but only with the three of us. Occasionally she will like another dog (smaller only) or a human (usually the really sweet calm ones.) She's really scared of rain, thunder, fireworks and cars.

My younger dog is a trauma rescue and shares many of these traits - especially cuddling on her terms and sleeping alone.  Occasionally she will doze next to me on the couch and it feels like a huge compliment that she's comfortable enough to fall asleep with me.  My girl LOVES people, though.  Her favorite thing ever is to be petted by a new person.

that's so cute she wants to be petted by all the people. 

[TR]

Oct 1, 2024 13:47:35 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Sept 30, 2024 13:01:00 GMT -5 atexan said:

The squirrels in our yard 100% fuck with our dog. They stand where he can see them through the sliding glass doors, and if we let him out they jump on top of the fence and tut-tut at him. One of the doors has recently gone wonky in its track, and we're pretty sure it's from the dog hurling his body into the door trying to get at them. We could close the blinds but I worry they would take over the yard. They bring pecan shells from our neighbor's tree and leave them all over the yard and driveway. Little assholes.

Maybe it’s Texas squirrels! We have two that literally throw stuff at our windows where our cats like to nap and chatter at the cats! When two of the cats go outside, the squirrels run up the trees and chatter at them. I’m waiting for our outside boy to drag a grown squirrel to our back door one day.

Yes! The ones in our yard throw acorns at the dogs and LAUGH at them.