Pouncing

Hobbes regularly pounces on Calvin, most of the time when Calvin opens the door after coming home from school, or even when he passes by a corner in his house. It doesn't usually come to blows unless Calvin has done Hobbes wrong, like rudely waking him up or pelting him with snowballs. In one example of a rude awakening, Calvin comments, "It's hard to believe your conscience lets you sleep THAT well." Hobbes pounces on Calvin, roughs him up, and returns to his peaceful state, thinking, "NOW it does." Hobbes has two cues for pouncing on Calvin; the first is simply to see him enter, and the second is to wait for him to yell "I'm Home!"

Defenses

Among the methods that Calvin has employed in order to avoid Hobbes' attack are some of the following:

• Making fake versions of himself and having Hobbes pounce on them. Calvin has done this three times, with one attempt being successful, one unsuccesful, and one half-successful. The first time was half-succesful as Calvin avoided gettting pounced on, but Hobbes took the decoy inside and locked Calvin out. The second time, Hobbes asked Calvin if he made the second decoy (which Calvin acknowledged) and closed the door; Calvin threw the decoy aside and opened the door himself, which resulted in him being pounced on normally. The third time, Calvin drew a face onto his sack lunch and mounted it with his clothes; this attempt actually did fool Hobbes, on account that here Hobbes relied on Calvin exclaiming "I'm Home!" instead of just entering.
• Hitting the ground just as Hobbes tries to pounce on him (partially successful: Hobbes missed him but turned around and pounced on him).
• Waiting until Hobbes falls asleep (unsuccessful).
• Shouting "I'm Home!" in the bushes so Hobbes pounces on nothing (successful).
• Asking Susie to open the door. He has done this twice (the first one unsuccesful as Susie didn't see anything flying out at her, and the second was also unsuccesful as Hobbes was already dressed up for Susie to visit).
• Shouting "I'm Home!" before opening the door so that Hobbes crashes into the door and saying "You'll notice I didn't say I was inside." (successful)
• Calvin tried three times to shout "I'm Home!" after getting inside. He has done this three times, with one unsuccesful and two half-succesful. His first try was where he went inside and lay low so Hobbes wouldn't pounce on him, however, Hobbes turned around to pounce on him again saying "Elapsed turn around in .8 seconds". The second try was sneaking in through the back and seeing Hobbes ready to pounce, however, Hobbes pounced on him later on. The third try was sneaking through the back and having Hobbes trapped outside, however, Calvin got in trouble for locking his mom out.
• Taking a picture of Hobbes pouncing and showing it to his father as evidence. (unsuccessful, since Calvin's dad sees Hobbes only in his stuffed tiger form)

References

Hobbes is an allusion to Tigger from Winnie the Pooh.

During one strip, Hobbes decides to pounce on Calvin but Calvin locks Hobbes and Calvin's mother out replying "What a chump!" which is what Gabe Duncan says at the end of Baby Come Back, the second episode of Season 1 in the Disney Channel second (or third, due to Wizards of Waverly Place series ending) series, Good Luck Charlie.