‘What have you accidentally conditioned your pet to do? – 17 tricks that were never meant to be taught

If you’ve ever owned a pet, you’ll know that it can be difficult to train them to do everyday things like settling down to sleep or going to the bathroom.

Weird behaviour, on the other hand, appears to be passed on effortlessly. At least that’s the case according to the research of Sufficient-Wolf1596, who turned to r/AskReddit to pose this pet-themed problem:

‘What have you accidentally conditioned your pet to do?’

Here are the top replies from confused owners…

1.
‘A couple days in a row I meowed the music to the disco song “Do the Hustle” in a high falsetto while feeding my cats. Don’t ask me why… I wasn’t trying to train them, just stupidly entertaining myself because they had all “hustled” when they heard me open a can of cat food.

‘The next day, I was wondering what would happen if I just randomly falsetto-meowed “Do the Hustle”… the cats all immediately came running up stairs to the bathroom that I feed them in. They had been unintentionally trained to come to “Do the Hustle” in just two friggin’ days. That’s how I always call them for food now… which takes a bit of an explanation when we have company over and they think I’ve lost my mind.’
-PerfectBeaver8247

2.
‘Pee on command. We just took our dog outside for a quick pee and always used the same words. Now when we say those words he knows he’s expected to pee before he can come inside again. So sometimes he fake-pees because it’s raining and he wants to come in fast. No no mister…’
-LuvNinaNova

3.
‘He won’t respond to his name, but will immediately come out of nowhere to “Where’s that baby?” said in a singsong tone.’
-Astrises

4.
‘I have a pair of giant bolt cutters that my dogs lose their mind in excitement to see.

‘It’s because I use them to cut the giant bully sticks from Costco into 2-3 pieces, so they know their favorite treat is about to drop.’
-inzillah

5.
‘When my cat hears the dryer door open she runs to the bed because that’s where I dump the clean laundry. Then she burrows into the warm clothes where I absolutely will not disturb her by folding the laundry for several hours while she naps.’
-anythingaustin

6.
‘I have an alarm set to remind me to take my meds. I started feeding her at the same time. Now if she hears that particular alarm tone, she expects its dinner time. Sometimes I’ll feed her a few minutes ahead of the alarm for reasons, and it will go off and she’ll stop eating to run around my feet to feed her. Cat, your bowl has food!’
-GoddessRayne

7.
‘My mother-in-law had a cat that she deliberately trained to meow “outside” before she would let it out. She would talk to the cat repeating “outside” until the cat meowed with a “meow-row” with two syllables.

‘Sounds cute, right?

‘Until the cat decides he wants out at 2:00 am. And then decides that since no one is answering he’ll just meow louder.’
-Avium

8.
‘I give my cat Toasty a treat before I go to bed. We have a lovely cuddle, maybe a brushing, then treat. Toasty noticed that when I turn off the TV, treats are coming. So now, every time a show ends, or I turn off the TV, Sir Toasty von Toaster Sturdel looks at me expectantly.’
-blueyork

9.
‘Be held every morning on the toilet. He thinks it’s his special time. I think it’s hard to wipe.’
-CeilingStanSupremacy