My husband raised birds and had three favorites in the house as his personal pets. Amanda is an African gray who was just too smart. She hated women and loved to flirt with any man who came into the house. She had an awesome vocabulary. One of her many talents was to invite people in when she heard the doorbell or heard someone knock on the door. "Come on in," she would yell out.

Another one of his birds was a Mexican redhead, Captain. He was not too smart, but he picked up a word or two. His favorite word being "what." My husband was hard of hearing, and he was always saying "what" to questions or statements. It was quite annoying because he didn't want to use his hearing aids, but that darn ol' bird just loved that word and it drove us nuts.

My husband passed away, and a friend of mine took the birds to her house to "birdsit" for a time. Her brother was living with her to get away from an old ex-girlfriend. She had them sitting my the front door near an open window. One day, the ex-girlfriend showed up at the house to see him. Neither my friend or her brother wanted her to know that they were home, so they hid behind a wall till she left. She began to ring the bell and knock on the door, and to my friend's amazement the African gray (Amanda) began to yell out, "Well, come on in!" The girlfriend tried to get in the door, but thankfully the door was locked. She shook the handle and began to yell, "I can't, the door is locked". Right on cue, the other bird, Captain, yelled out "What, what?" She would yell, "I said the door is locked" She would knock again and would hear, "Well, come on in" and then the resounding "What?" from Captain. You would think that this woman would have given up, but not her. She kept this up till my friend and her brother were laughing so hard that she wet her pants.

— Ann Marlatt of Oceanside, California

Do you have a pet that makes you smile? Share your funny stories!