well..
When I read the title of this thread, I thought there was a new kind of dishwaher toy that swam around the inside of the machine during the cycle and helped to wash the dishes!
I've also heard of poaching fish in the dishwasher, someone on a cooking forum that I regularly attend said she tried it. Don't remember how it turned out though. I wonder if you'd put olive oil in the rinse aid dispenser and herbs in the detergent dispenser? I believe the fish is supposed to be wrapped in foil anyway.
I put the cat's water bowl in. I also do the plastic dish drainer, tray it sits on, and microwave turntable as someone else mentioned. The weiredest thing I ever tried was the oven racks. I had to remove the top dishwasher rack to get them to fit (not an easy task on a GE Nautilus)... used lots of soap and the heavy dutiest cycle possible. It didn't make a dent in them. All that trouble and I was still scrubbing them with a brillo pad the next day!
I threaten to put the cat in when he does something bad (taking the squirt bottle to the extreme!), but I'd never act on it.
I wonder if there are people who recycle ziploc bags and try to run those through the dishwasher!?
I've heard of sex toys as well, the old addage "don't $#!+ where you eat" comes to mind here!