Hobbes regularly pounces on Calvin and roughs him up, most of the time when Calvin opens the door after coming home from school. Sometimes, though, Hobbes roughs up Calvin when he's going to his room or opening the closet, or even when he passes by a corner in his house.
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. The first time, Hobbes took the fake Calvin into the house and locked the door so the real Calvin couldn't get in. 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 (successful).
- Waiting until Hobbes falls asleep (unsuccessful).
- Shouting "I'm Home!" in the bushes so Hobbes pounces on nothing (successful).
- Sneaking in through the back door (half-successful; Calvin avoided a front-door pounce, but got beaten up later on).
- Asking Susie to open the door (unsuccessful).
- Shouting "I'm Home!" before opening the door so that Hobbes crashes into the door (successful).
- Shouting "I'm Home!" after getting inside so Hobbes is trapped outside. He has done this twice (the first was unsuccessful as Hobbes managed to turn around; the second was successful but presumably got him in trouble when he locked his mother outside).