Who *are* you??
May 12, 2018 4:36 PM Subscribe
It's probably a good thing my dog is a swiss mountain/pit bull/hound/mastiff/lab/???????? dog because if she wasn't a fairly distinct (and very pretty if I do say so myself) mutt of all mutts then I can totally see my dad doing this exact same thing. (Also me. I could do this. SO EASILY)
It's a very good advertisement for the Maltese as a breed though- total stranger dog, still friendly enough to just jump into the car. The Maltese (TM): You wont believe how friendly they are!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 5:11 PM on May 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
It's a very good advertisement for the Maltese as a breed though- total stranger dog, still friendly enough to just jump into the car. The Maltese (TM): You wont believe how friendly they are!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 5:11 PM on May 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
When my 9-year-old son was catsitting for the people across the street, I got a text from his dad that one of the cats had gotten loose and wouldn't let them catch it, but that it might like women better so I should give it a try when I got home from work. I got home and a cat was sitting on the porch across the street, so I picked it up and put it inside. Yay me!
It didn't occur to me until after I left that there are a few cats hanging out in the neighborhood, and that it might not be the right cat. Once my son returned from soccer I had him go over with me to confirm the cat's identity, and we found it in a standoff with the resident cat, glaring at each other from opposite sides of the room. It was not in fact the one that lived there.
But really, my neighbor couldn't complain, right? There were two cats when he left town and two when he came back, after all!
posted by metasarah at 5:43 PM on May 12, 2018 [43 favorites]
It didn't occur to me until after I left that there are a few cats hanging out in the neighborhood, and that it might not be the right cat. Once my son returned from soccer I had him go over with me to confirm the cat's identity, and we found it in a standoff with the resident cat, glaring at each other from opposite sides of the room. It was not in fact the one that lived there.
But really, my neighbor couldn't complain, right? There were two cats when he left town and two when he came back, after all!
posted by metasarah at 5:43 PM on May 12, 2018 [43 favorites]
Yeah, at least it wasn't a wooden replica of their cat.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:36 PM on May 12, 2018 [43 favorites]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:36 PM on May 12, 2018 [43 favorites]
The Maltese (TM): You wont believe how friendly they are!
For real, though. I have one and his complete adoration and trust of all humans is his defining personality trait. He gets excited to go to the vet, because HUMANS ARE THERE. He loves meeting new people so much he'll preferentially snuggle up with someone he doesn't see much/has never met before, making my husband I (who spoil the heck out of him) look like we must be horrible to him or something. He knows no real specific loyalty to any one human, and I could completely see him cheerfully following a stranger into their car.
Maltese are just fluffy balls of friendliness.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 7:36 PM on May 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
For real, though. I have one and his complete adoration and trust of all humans is his defining personality trait. He gets excited to go to the vet, because HUMANS ARE THERE. He loves meeting new people so much he'll preferentially snuggle up with someone he doesn't see much/has never met before, making my husband I (who spoil the heck out of him) look like we must be horrible to him or something. He knows no real specific loyalty to any one human, and I could completely see him cheerfully following a stranger into their car.
Maltese are just fluffy balls of friendliness.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 7:36 PM on May 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
This is 100% PetSmart’s fault. It’s like a day care sending you home with the wrong infant.
But funnier.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:36 PM on May 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
But funnier.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:36 PM on May 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
Yeah, my cat used to have a doppelganger that hung around outside. We were constantly having to make sure the right one was indoors.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:39 PM on May 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:39 PM on May 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
Another good reason to get a mutt. They don't all look alike! (Here's mine -- she'd never be confused with another.)
posted by dobbs at 8:31 PM on May 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by dobbs at 8:31 PM on May 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
This might be what happens when people call your dog "puppy" 90% of the time, as opposed to his/her given name. (My family isn't the only one that does this, right?)
posted by Brocktoon at 8:35 PM on May 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Brocktoon at 8:35 PM on May 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
i wonder if it is medically possible to be dog-blind, and if that’s what caused this
posted by vogon_poet at 9:15 PM on May 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by vogon_poet at 9:15 PM on May 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
dobbs, your dog is gorgeous!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:31 PM on May 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:31 PM on May 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wait, Homo neanderthalensis, where's the picture of your mutt?
posted by Pronoiac at 10:33 PM on May 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Pronoiac at 10:33 PM on May 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
This could have happened to me – I just can't see the difference between different specimens of the same breed, if they have the same color. Which is, when you think about it, the whole point of breeds, right? Googling confirms that the maltese is supposed to be white and that's it. Which is stupid. Like in those photos of the British queen, surrounded by a flock of copy-paste corgis, so immensely creepy.
posted by Vesihiisi at 10:37 PM on May 12, 2018
posted by Vesihiisi at 10:37 PM on May 12, 2018
Our dog is a rescue, so we don't know anything about her history, but one day my husband saw another dog that looked like our dog's twin, complete with the amazing blue eyes, tied up outside a market. He decided to wait around for the owner to see if he could find out anything about whence doppledoggy. So he waited. And waited. Nobody shows up. Meanwhile, people are stopping, "oh, what a cute dog," etc., and he's explaining how it's not his but looks just like his, he's just waiting for the owner to find out more about the dog, and some people start waiting along with him, and he eventually goes inside the grocery and asks the people working there if they recognize the dog, does anyone know where the owner is, and so on, and some of the employees are coming outside and giving the dog water and treats, and calling other people working in other businesses on the street, "hey do you know this dog?" It's like Street Party Abandoned Dog, and while he first started waiting because he was curious, he eventually stayed because he was afraid no one was coming back for the dog. FINALLY, an hour and a half later (and no telling how long it was before my husband happened by), a woman comes to get the dog. She was very blasé, oh she went to [somewhere], forgot she had the dog with her, went back home and finally remembered. (!) She didn't know anything about the dog's history, and was bemused that all these people were hanging out waiting for her to show up. He said he would have suggested a doggymeet, but she was incurious and impatient and not down for anything like that, apparently. :{
posted by taz at 12:11 AM on May 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by taz at 12:11 AM on May 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
i wonder if it is medically possible to be dog-blind
Cynagnosia?
posted by Segundus at 2:13 AM on May 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Cynagnosia?
posted by Segundus at 2:13 AM on May 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
When we first got our now gone "2 from the same littler bred for us why would you want that you know you're in nebraska right" cockapoos nearly 20 years ago (before that was a thing) we let them grow their awesome shaggy hair through the winter. Finally spring came and we had to take them to get groomed at the horse vet groomer (true story). Anyway we picked them up and when we went in there were some cages wirh 2 cute little dogs that seemed to be excited to see us but were about 10 pounds each and not ours. Our were chilled out 20 pound furbabies. It took us a solid 10 minutes to realize they ( the only dogs in there i should add) were OURS and had just had REALLY long hair.
Miss them so much.
posted by chasles at 5:05 AM on May 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
Miss them so much.
posted by chasles at 5:05 AM on May 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
Yeah, my cat used to have a doppelganger that hung around outside.
Mine did too, but since Fergus is exclusively an indoor cat I'd have a heart attack for a few seconds wondering how he got out until I realized it was his evil twin, Fauxgus.
posted by elsietheeel at 5:58 AM on May 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
Mine did too, but since Fergus is exclusively an indoor cat I'd have a heart attack for a few seconds wondering how he got out until I realized it was his evil twin, Fauxgus.
posted by elsietheeel at 5:58 AM on May 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
When I was 17 and was known to sleep until 3:00pm in the summer, my dad told me one night "I need you to wake up in the morning and take the dog (min pin/chihuahua mix) to the vet at 7:00am for shots."
I did, and promptly came home and went back to sleep. My dad came home from his graveyard shift and found me asleep in my room and the dog on the couch and assumed I had slept though the appointment.
I woke up later that afternoon and found him fuming. "Thanks for taking the dog to the vet." "Yeah no problem." He thought I was being a smartass, and then we realized that he took the dog to the vet less than an hour after I did, and nobody at the clinic noticed the same weird tiny dog with the same name being brought in for the same vaccinations.
My parents were pissed. The dog lived a long life after that. It's family lore now.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:06 AM on May 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
I did, and promptly came home and went back to sleep. My dad came home from his graveyard shift and found me asleep in my room and the dog on the couch and assumed I had slept though the appointment.
I woke up later that afternoon and found him fuming. "Thanks for taking the dog to the vet." "Yeah no problem." He thought I was being a smartass, and then we realized that he took the dog to the vet less than an hour after I did, and nobody at the clinic noticed the same weird tiny dog with the same name being brought in for the same vaccinations.
My parents were pissed. The dog lived a long life after that. It's family lore now.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:06 AM on May 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
My darkly humorous mistaken pet identity story.
I came home from work one day and my cat had been hit by a car. It was horrible of course and she was soon buried. A couple of days later I was working in the garden, looked up and there was my dead cat sitting quietly watching me.
uh....wtf? My brain shorted out.
Not sure where the poor cat I buried came from. I live rural so it was probably a barn cat Since my cat came as a stray there is a good chance they were related and why they looked like twins.
posted by Jalliah at 7:08 PM on May 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
I came home from work one day and my cat had been hit by a car. It was horrible of course and she was soon buried. A couple of days later I was working in the garden, looked up and there was my dead cat sitting quietly watching me.
uh....wtf? My brain shorted out.
Not sure where the poor cat I buried came from. I live rural so it was probably a barn cat Since my cat came as a stray there is a good chance they were related and why they looked like twins.
posted by Jalliah at 7:08 PM on May 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
I did literally this thing. Dropped our Maltese-Pomeranian off for grooming, and when I returned they gave me a different dog to take home. I didn't notice and it wasn't until 'Benny/Charlie' had been home about 30 minutes the wife and kids started voicing their doubts.
My wife and daughters have recounted the story several times over the years, except in the retelling of course they knew immediately that it was the wrong dog...
posted by joz at 7:24 PM on May 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
My wife and daughters have recounted the story several times over the years, except in the retelling of course they knew immediately that it was the wrong dog...
posted by joz at 7:24 PM on May 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
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