IT was the year of the family pet behaving badly: A dog got sick from eating dozens of socks and a puppy took the rap for driving the family car into a pond. Angry cats held their owners hostage on at least two occasions.

    A review of the oddest stories of 2014 in the United States also offers numerous examples of less-than-virtuous human behavior. There was the hapless burglar whose criminal career came to a crashing halt when he left his Facebook page open in a house he was accused of robbing.

    Many tales from the animal kingdom this year were heart-warming and hilarious.

    A parrot that spoke English with a British accent went missing for four years, only to return to his California home speaking Spanish and asking for someone named Larry.

    The bird’s owner, one Darren Chick, said he had no idea where his Nigel spent his time away, but aside from the language switch, he is doing just fine.

    For sheer heroics, it was hard to top the family cat that rescued a California child pulled from his bike by an attacking dog. A video of the encounter went viral, and as a reward, the fearless feline was invited to throw out the first pitch at a minor league ball game.

    It could have been worse for the German shepherd puppy that knocked a car into gear and jumped on the gas pedal, driving the vehicle into a pond where it sank. The dog survived.

    Same goes for a hearty Great Dane that had 43 socks removed from his stomach in emergency surgery.

    In California, a family feline terrorized two women, trapping them in a bedroom for hours and forcing them to call police. In Florida, a tabby held its owner captive, and the woman later admitted she may have stepped on the animal, prompting the outburst.

    (SD-Agencies)