So, Daisy, who has done very little in her 12 years, has suddenly decided that she has a job of her own. She is now the self-appointed "Matron of Pets".

This really started when a little lost kitty followed us home. We were terrified that we would have to keep them separated 100% since Daisy's small history with cats isn't stellar. Well, lo and behold after several formal introductions and a couple of weeks of strict separation, they have both decided that they love each other, and I think Daisy has officially adopted him. Though, I will say petting a cat who has been bathing in dog slobber is rather gross.

She has also expanded her role of "kitty mommy" to "deputy rule enforcer". Whenever the cat jumps on top of the bird cage "woof, woof"; whenever the cat jumps on the kitchen table "woof, woof". Whenever the cat is meowing at the back door to be let in "woof, woof". She has even started alerting on the cockatiels when they start squabbling in their cage. The first time it happened at four in the morning it was incredibly annoying, but even then we could see how useful it was. And the cat is realizing that he can't get away with it, even when everyone else is asleep! She has needed a job for forever, and she finally made one up by herself.

What self-appointed jobs do your dogs do? I'm sure y'all have some good stories.

Ollie is the self appointed turtle alarm. Anytime, night or day, our yard is safe from these dangerous creatures. He sees one, alerts me with "The Turtle Bark", and then escorts me to the property line where I set them free. As soon as the turtle is off the property, Ollie is happy.

He actually did something really cool this summer. Everytime I'd take him out, he would alert bark at the drain pipe that runs down the side of our breezeway. I thought maybe a critter had run into it or something, but he kept doing it. The second day, I told my husband that there had to be something in there. So, he flushes it with the hose. Still, everytime we go out, Ollie is barking at this pipe. The third day, we had company and he just kept going back to this pipe and barking...driving everybody crazy. He stuck his nose right in it and yelped. He'd been stung by a wasp, and there was a nest in that pipe somehow that flushing it with water didn't get rid of. I'm allergic to bees, so I was quite thankful.

Well, Sadie, my almost nine year old Heinz 57 gal is the self appointed killer and eater of any chicken stupid enough to fly out of the chicken yard...grrrrr. Falcon dependably alerts on any crows in the yard... For some reason the boy hates crows and has a specific growl and bark. We always know if it crows! He also alerts when there are any vultures hunkered over the chicken yard, and that at least is helpful... Crows, not so much.

Love the self appointed matron status...very cute.

One howls when it is time to get up, time to go to sleep, time for food; he is pretty accurate to our schedule.

We have one that alerts of all low flying birds. To date this has not come in handy.

They all wish to be dish-washers.

Hazard will pick up Barbie dolls for my girls After a thousand times of seeing them wing dolls into the toy box, he started doing it on his own. Cool trick, but he tries to do it while the girls are still playing with them.
He also is the bed enforcer. If anyone tries to sneak out of bed between the hours of 9 and 6, he will woof or jump on me if I am sleeping. This will come in handy when they are 16 or so

This is an excellent idea! I wonder if I can train our Buck to alert if kids are sneaking around late at night.

You don't want your kids calling your dog a "Narc" do you :P

Yes. Yes I do.

Skipper is going deaf and sometimes needs to be rounded up. Jethro has become the Skipper-getter. We say, "Jethro, go get Skipper" and he finds Skipper, gets him going in the right direction and then leads him to us. He is also an awesome log rescuer. Whether it is the ocean or the river, he will bring in these huge logs, as big as we can throw (or launch). Last outing I threw a big stick that didn't float and it sunk to the bottom of a shallow pool in the river. Jethro knew it was there and 'snorkelled' down to retrieve it.

Love this thread!!