WoW Petopia Community

This is Bailey.
Bailey is a kleptomaniac who will steal your socks.
For all I know, Bailey may even steal Socks if there were a chance.

This behavior has been growing worse as of late. When both myself and my brother are at school, and our parents at work, Bailey will roam around the house like most any other dog. However, unlike typical dogs, she will grab socks out of our bedrooms, and carry them out into the hallway or even the living room. They don't get chewed on; in fact, you wouldn't even know that she had touched them if they didn't keep on mysteriously migrating out of our bedrooms.
So, lately she hit a personal record of 25 socks stolen, which is what prompted my post. Part of the living room is strewn with around a dozen socks, along with a bread-crumb trail of socks going up the stairs and down the hallway to where our bedrooms are.

At least she isn't eating the bottoms off socks like our previous dog did; she just steals 'em. Obsessively, it seems.

Have any of you ever heard of behaviors like this from a dog?

I had a little stuffed dog with a handkerchief around its neck. One of my (non-stuffed ) dogs insisted on taking it off the shelf, untying the knot and laying the cloth next to the stuffed animal. He never chewed either object, but laid them in the same exact spot every time, the handkerchief untied. I've never had a sock-thief, though!

That is a really cute face on that dog! What is she?

Thanks! We're not sure what kind of a dog she is, what with her being adopted by us from an animal shelter, but she does seem to have a lot of border collie in her.Whatever she is, she loves human attention and is both energetic and remarkably intelligent. I have a feeling that her sock-stealing may just be how she handles being home alone, since she is so attached to us.

our dog Cubby is obssessed with newly-washed hair. if you have clean, wet hair and put you hair next to her, she will start nomming it and eventually just roll around in it. o___O it probably has to do with that whole "same pack scent" thing but it's really weird. she also has a habit of creating MANY tangles that need to be brushed out -___-

Our dog has a nightly freak out... At around 6:50 every night he gets really really hyper, and at ~10:00pm, demands to be let out. He then proceeds to run in circles on the deck as fast as he can, legs tightly together instead of spread out.

That's bizarre... Maybe there's something man-made, scheduled, and out of human range of hearing that's driving him nuts? O.o

LupisDarkmoon wrote:Our dog has a nightly freak out... At around 6:50 every night he gets really really hyper, and at ~10:00pm, demands to be let out. He then proceeds to run in circles on the deck as fast as he can, legs tightly together instead of spread out.

2 of our dogs do that too. One of them is our 14 year old chihuahua! o___O Maybe they're just trying to get their crazies out? They'll have their little spaz-out then settle down for bed. Weird.

Two of my chihuahuas have taken to eating pecans... literally cracking the shells eating the inside and leaving the cracked shells on my bed. @_@

Also one of em, I can say "Hey, I LOVE YOU!" and he'll start howling. The one in my avatar is the one that does that o.o

The late-night willies sounds like quite a sight! Makes me think of a dog circling around and settling down for bed, writ crazy.

Miraga, I wonder if some dogs are just bothered by clean hair? I know that Bailey will go racing around the house, flopping on her side regularly so as to go skidding on the carpet, after she has a bath. We eventually started keeping her in the hardwood-floored kitchen after baths until she dries off.

Another Bailey habit that I forgot about (since creatures are still in hibernation here) is her obsession with bunny-rabbits. Lately, they're been popping up all over the neighborhood, and not too infrequently one will be eating at our lawn. Bailey will stare at them for hours on end. Sometimes, she can't contain her excitement, and will start making a loud commotion over the fluffy furball outside. The local rabbits have clearly gotten used to this, for they now completely ignore her as long as she's safely on the other side of the sliding glass door. But, as I said, the rabbits are still in hibernation, so no bunny watching to be had. Reminds me of the off-season of sports and TV series.

Cialbi wrote:
Miraga, I wonder if some dogs are just bothered by clean hair? I know that Bailey will go racing around the house, flopping on her side regularly so as to go skidding on the carpet, after she has a bath. We eventually started keeping her in the hardwood-floored kitchen after baths until she dries off.

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with them not really wanting this new, clean smell. Their scent before was them and the pack, aka your family, your home, etc. By running around like a maniac and rolling around they're trying to get that familiar scent back on them. If you're worried about it then what you're doing is perfect. Just keep them in a separate area until they calm down and dry off!