Smart dog stories

Dogs never cease to amaze me.

#1 They hear you scraping the bottom of your bowl and immediately show up. :confused:

#2 JRT heard banging at the back door ; JRT was trying to bring a large stick through the dog door - no luck. I watched him go back out side , chew the stick into 3 pieces and bring them in that way.:scream:

#3 When The JRT has a big bone he can't jump on the couch with it. He puts the bone at the side of the couch, jumps onto the couch, leans over and brings up the bone.

amazing animals

Before my cataract operations I had to wear reading glasses. Our girl Irish Setter would be upstairs not so patiently waiting to go "walkies". When I took my reading glasses off and they made a clicking noise as I closed them she would come charging down the stairs barking and head for the door.

LOL! And how is it that they can ALWAYS tell when you're getting food or a treat EVEN if they're outside or in another room at the other end of the house??

When it's time to eat Maddy knows to just go lay down a good distance from the table, and she doesn't budge until told, that being said her eyes are constantly working (mainly where the kid sits) watching where every dropped bit lands, for later :)

I swear that my yellow lab Kaboose knows the days of the week. Monday to Friday when my wife and I are getting ready for work she just goes in her kennel and on Saturday morning she just knows that she can go with us in the car. She will go and get one of her toy ducks and wait at the door with it in her mouth waiting to go in the car. Dogs are just so smart.

I open cans of tuna with a Swiss Army knife -- long story, but I don't like how my can opener works. This is the only thing I use that knife for these days. And I give the dog the juice from the can.

She has learned to recognize my Swiss Army knife, and gets excited when I pick it up.

If I go to the front door and put on footwear my dog will be right by my feet ready to accompany me outside. However, if I have my laptop bag with me he will just lay down a distance away as he knows I am heading off to work and will be gone for most of the day.

Also, if he wishes to go outside on his own, he will sit by the front door patiently waiting for someone to open it for him. When he his ready to come in he will either let us know by a light bark or knocking (well scratching really) at the door. At night, he will not go out on his own and insists that he be accompanied. He seems to know that coyotes prowl the back yard which he avoids.

My brother had a lab/border collie cross. Not much of a bird or duck dog, but was nuts about deer. He could tell the difference if you were going bird or deer hunting...maybe he could tell the difference between shotguns and rifles - maybe he knew when November starts - hard to tell, but he knew the difference.

Another funny story. About 5 years ago my wife bought a breath freshener from a pet shop and spiked his drinking water. He sniffed it and refused to drink. Even though we put fresh water in his bowl he refused to touch for 2 days until I got really concerned with dehydration and offered a Dixie cup which he immediately lapped up. So, since then, the only water he will drink is from a Dixie cup we place on the bathroom floor and if empty he will patiently wait. His regular stainless steel bowl is refreshed twice daily but he will not drink from it. What a pain....lol

Of course my wife gets the worse of it as I routinely accuse her of poisoning his water...lol

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Originally Posted by Trevor

I swear that my yellow lab Kaboose knows the days of the week. Monday to Friday when my wife and I are getting ready for work she just goes in her kennel and on Saturday morning she just knows that she can go with us in the car. She will go and get one of her toy ducks and wait at the door with it in her mouth waiting to go in the car. Dogs are just so smart.

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Soon as mine see me putting lipstick on , they know I'm going out and not with them - they go to their kennel unasked. :)

I was puppy sitting a four month old lab while a friend was away for nine days. He had told me the commands that she knew, so while he was gone we worked on her recall. I would tell her to sit and wait, then walk to the end of the garage. I'd call her, she'd come to me, sit in front of me, make eye contact and get her treat. We did this three times. After the third time, she ate her treat, turned and walked away from me....and went to the other end of the garage to where I had left her sitting at the start of the exercise. She turned to face me and sat....she had set herself up to do the recall again. She did this many times, and I was more than happy to repeat the exercise with her.

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Originally Posted by BurlyGirl

I was puppy sitting a four month old lab while a friend was away for nine days. He had told me the commands that she knew, so while he was gone we worked on her recall. I would tell her to sit and wait, then walk to the end of the garage. I'd call her, she'd come to me, sit in front of me, make eye contact and get her treat. We did this three times. After the third time, she ate her treat, turned and walked away from me....and went to the other end of the garage to where I had left her sitting at the start of the exercise. She turned to face me and sat....she had set herself up to do the recall again. She did this many times, and I was more than happy to repeat the exercise with her.

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Now that's a smart dog for 4 months. ( My pup has started bowing whenever he is in trouble. How can I not smile? :) )

Charlie likes to go icefishing with me . I have a flasher sonar unit which shows the jig as I move it up and down and also when a fish comes up to grab the jig . He watches the flasher very intently and as soon as he sees a fish appear moving in on the jig he jumps back and barks at the hole . LOL . Crazy . LOL

TD

My dog acts very differently in the woods depending on wether or not I am carrying a gun. In the off season he tends to work much closer, almost not taking it serious. If I'm carrying a shotgun he is a totally different dog and just "turns it on". He get's walked daily but on Saturday mornings when everybody is sleeping in a bit he goes bonkers because he knows he gets a good 2 hour run in the woods every Saturday. As soon as I get dressed he's on the bed whining away. During th work week he just seems to accept that he will only get out after work.

My girl know the days of the week as well. Friday night she knows we go next door for a couple of "pops", she knows when the time is right and goes to the door and waits. When I go to the fridge, she runs back to see what I'm doing, if two brown bottles clink together, she runs back to the door and starts howling. As soon as the door opens, she runs out and over to the back door or my neighbor's garage.
The other thing she does, as soon as she sees me get out the suitcase for a business trip, she tries to lay across my feet to keep me from leaving!

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Originally Posted by 400bigbear

Charlie likes to go icefishing with me . I have a flasher sonar unit which shows the jig as I move it up and down and also when a fish comes up to grab the jig . He watches the flasher very intently and as soon as he sees a fish appear moving in on the jig he jumps back and barks at the hole . LOL . Crazy . LOL

TD

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Hilarious. Now if you could just get him to clean the fish. :)

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Originally Posted by welsh

I open cans of tuna with a Swiss Army knife -- long story, but I don't like how my can opener works. This is the only thing I use that knife for these days. And I give the dog the juice from the can.

She has learned to recognize my Swiss Army knife, and gets excited when I pick it up.

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Somehow mine knows the instant I grab the vegetable peeler. He runs into the kitchen, goes straight to the corner of the butcher block table and waits patiently for a piece of carrot. If he doesn't smell carrot, he'll sit there and huff in protest until I get one from the fridge. If there's carrot on the table, he drools quietly. And he actually moans in disappointment if I finish food prep without giving him a piece of carrot. He used to be worse about it though -- he used to try to lie on my feet while I was chopping vegetables so I wouldn't forget that he was (im)patiently waiting for carrot. (Had to break him of that, for obvious reasons...)

My setter knows we are going for a run as soon as I put my socks on. If I put on ankle socks or dress socks, he doesn't care. Put on hiking socks (or a hat) and he goes BONKERS. I try and trick him by closing the door while I change my socks but he still knows.

My Britt pup got some rare illness. My wife and I were both working out of home so I made up a safe area in the basement made up from plywood for this pup. I felt bad for the old girl so I took her from the kennel outside and gave her free range of the basement - outside of the barrier.
I came home one day to find one of my leather Italian shoes chewed to heck by the pup! I looked around trying to find how the pup got out of the barrier, found the shoe and then went back into the barrier!?!?! Assumed I was loosing my mind and walked away scratching my head.
The next day - ditto, another shoe from a separate pair!!! I scanned the basement trying to make sense of it! I asked my wife, "Did you leave my shoes near the pup?" I can't repeat her answer here. :(
I scanned the basement even slower and when my gaze came upon the older dog, she lowered her head. What?!?!?!
Oh yeah....she HATED having to share our attention with the new pup. She was delivering the shoes to pup and then skulking off to lie down as far away from pup as she could. I know....hard to believe.

Just an example of canine intelligence. In support of NZ animal shelters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWAK0J8Uhzk

Enjoy!

I was reading Sharon's opening message to my wife and she found it funny, then she mentioned to me about how Misty interacts with our two year old.

* Misty will follow our daughter around the house and block her from things she shouldn't be near (like, the stairs).
* She'll stand still and let our daughter pull herself up after she's fallen/tripped using Misty for support.
* Our daughter hugs and tugs on Misty like no one else can, and Misty just keeps following her - she also always lays at the end of the baby's crib or playpen (depending on the room she's in) and sleeps.
* Our daughter can take anything from Misty's mouth, including her favorite tug-rope, and Misty won't put up a fight.

Lastly, and even more shocking to me - the baby can tell "Tissy" to sit and she'll come sit or lay down right beside her. I was shocked when my wife showed all this to me.

The dog never, EVER, does any of this stuff when I'm around. I need to work less, and pay more attention to my family; my words exactly when I discovered this.

My wife describes Sophia (my daughter) and Misty's relationship as best friends, all day long.

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Originally Posted by jweese

I was reading Sharon's opening message to my wife and she found it funny, then she mentioned to me about how Misty interacts with our two year old.

* Misty will follow our daughter around the house and block her from things she shouldn't be near (like, the stairs).
* She'll stand still and let our daughter pull herself up after she's fallen/tripped using Misty for support.
* Our daughter hugs and tugs on Misty like no one else can, and Misty just keeps following her - she also always lays at the end of the baby's crib or playpen (depending on the room she's in) and sleeps.
* Our daughter can take anything from Misty's mouth, including her favorite tug-rope, and Misty won't put up a fight.

Lastly, and even more shocking to me - the baby can tell "Tissy" to sit and she'll come sit or lay down right beside her. I was shocked when my wife showed all this to me.

The dog never, EVER, does any of this stuff when I'm around. I need to work less, and pay more attention to my family; my words exactly when I discovered this.

My wife describes Sophia (my daughter) and Misty's relationship as best friends, all day long.

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Reading this post just made my whole day. Thanks for sharing. :)

This JRT is something else. I have a table in the back yard , on which I wash the dogs after a muddy run.

Now when they are put from the van to the back yard and I amin the house gathering up the towels and shampoo , Cole has already jumped up on the table ( about 3 feet high) and is waiting for me. Never had that happen with any dog before. I can't believe it.:)

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Originally Posted by jweese

I was reading Sharon's opening message to my wife and she found it funny, then she mentioned to me about how Misty interacts with our two year old.

* Misty will follow our daughter around the house and block her from things she shouldn't be near (like, the stairs).
* She'll stand still and let our daughter pull herself up after she's fallen/tripped using Misty for support.
* Our daughter hugs and tugs on Misty like no one else can, and Misty just keeps following her - she also always lays at the end of the baby's crib or playpen (depending on the room she's in) and sleeps.
* Our daughter can take anything from Misty's mouth, including her favorite tug-rope, and Misty won't put up a fight.

Lastly, and even more shocking to me - the baby can tell "Tissy" to sit and she'll come sit or lay down right beside her. I was shocked when my wife showed all this to me.

The dog never, EVER, does any of this stuff when I'm around. I need to work less, and pay more attention to my family; my words exactly when I discovered this.

My wife describes Sophia (my daughter) and Misty's relationship as best friends, all day long.

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Fabulous. BFF is how I think the kids call that now.

When My dog Macy was about a year old we had asked my parents to take her for a week while we were away. When we got back and asked how she was they told us she was great, and were amazed at how well behaved she was but kept having one problem. Every time they took her anywhere for a car ride she wouldn't get out of the car. They would call her over, try walking away, tug on her leash, even try bribing with a treat but she would just look at them and whine until they had to pick her up and carry her out of the car. The look on their face was priceless when i told them you have to give the command "OK Macy" to get out of a vehicle. I still laugh picturing my dad carrying a 1 year old GSP out of the car!

Great story Buckwheat. Shows good ++ training.


I had a similar moment at the vet's the other day. I told the setter to sit in the waiting room while I was reading. The vet called us in and I went in and shut the door.
The vet said, " I think we're missing a dog." :)
Tessa was still sitting , waiting to be released. The vet said, " I don't see that very often."

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Originally Posted by TurkeyRookie

When it's time to eat Maddy knows to just go lay down a good distance from the table, and she doesn't budge until told, that being said her eyes are constantly working (mainly where the kid sits) watching where every dropped bit lands, for later :)

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Haha my lab dose the same thing and he tries to be sneaky about it when he moves in for the droped food

Last season I had a little debate with a guy I train with over whether dogs watch TV. He's a vet, lots of dog experience, and he thinks they're just reacting to movement, light and shadows. I think they actually watch TV....

A couple of weeks back, watching The Walking Dead, a rabbit hops across the TV screen in HD, about 1.5 x life size on my screen ... the freaking dog, snoozing beside me, sits bolt upright, jumps clear over my legs and climbs up with her nose to the TV screen. Then the scene changes and the rabbit disappears, and she starts sniffing behind the TV, around the cable box, & climbs up on the table looking for the rabbit. (Everyone laughing too hard to deal with this misbehaviour.)

She did a similar thing when young, with a training DVD with a scene where a pheasant was shot.

So dogs are smart enough to watch TV, but not smart enough to figure out that the rabbit isn't hiding behind the screen....

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Originally Posted by Sharon

Dogs never cease to amaze me.

#1 They hear you scraping the bottom of your bowl and immediately show up. :confused:

#2 JRT heard banging at the back door ; JRT was trying to bring a large stick through the dog door - no luck. I watched him go back out side , chew the stick into 3 pieces and bring them in that way.:scream:

#3 When The JRT has a big bone he can't jump on the couch with it. He puts the bone at the side of the couch, jumps onto the couch, leans over and brings up the bone.

amazing animals

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My dog skyler, acts like that too on occasion. He makes that initial mistake and learns from it. IMO a great dog trait

I had a beagle once and used it for rabbit hunting. Couldn't get that mutt on the trail of a rabbit. Took him out once and saw 3 or 4 sitting in the bush. Let the dog out, nothing. No interest at all. Now open a bottle of rabbit. Darn thing would go crazy. Had some very smart black labs over the years. Had a lab rottie mix once s well. Very intelligent.

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Originally Posted by Goosesniper

Had a lab rottie mix once s well. Very intelligent.

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That was the rottie in it.:tongue::D

Not sure how smart this pup is but she sure has a steep learning curve. She does not miss a trick and you can see her just looking for something to get into. Her latest discovery is the extra rolls of toilet paper in the baskets in the bathrooms. TP is much more fun than the 20 toys that are laying around the living room. I think I am going to have to start suspending things from the ceiling so she can't climb to get them but then she would just jump.

I hear you. We're on our third channel changer. I told the kids that if they leave it down again , they will be getting up to change channels.

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Originally Posted by Sharon

I hear you. We're on our third channel changer. I told the kids that if they leave it down again , they will be getting up to change channels.

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Channel changer? you been hanging out with my Grandpa? I thought only he called it that, or "the clicker"

When I would visit my parents in the winter with my Brittany, anytime after being outside and cleaning the snow/slush off his paws, he would head to the kitchen and place is front paw on the electric baseboard, then switch sides.......... and then try to get his back paws(one at a time) on the heater. This guy amazes me with his "smarts".

Thank's for the heads up Sharon. Just looked all over for ours then thought of you. Sure enough the little devil had taken it into the bedroom to the flop where she takes all her treasures. Another thing to suspend from the ceiling.

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Originally Posted by TurkeyRookie

Channel changer? you been hanging out with my Grandpa? I thought only he called it that, or "the clicker"

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Lol... You know me Jason - a techie wizard!:-)

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Originally Posted by Redsoilreaper

When I would visit my parents in the winter with my Brittany, anytime after being outside and cleaning the snow/slush off his paws, he would head to the kitchen and place is front paw on the electric baseboard, then switch sides.......... and then try to get his back paws(one at a time) on the heater. This guy amazes me with his "smarts".

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Now that is amazing.:-)