How smart is your dog? Ace is impressing me lately, lol.

[DDD]

husband things that our boxer, Ace, is the most perfect dog in the world. Not! But he is gorgeous and he is not "bad"...just very needy. I feel like I have a stalker because every time I get up..so does Ace.

Anyway, I think it's pretty neat that he fetches the toy we tell him to get. If you say "go get your hippo" he thinks a second and goes and gets the hippo. Same with his "octopus" "bone" "ball". About a month ago I got him a toy bone with a squeaker and when we say "go get your squeakie" he does come back with it...and when we say "squeak" he squeaks it. Friday I got him a new duck. By Saturday when I said "where's your honk honk" sure enough he got the honking duck. Funniest thing of all to me is that when he starts licking himself I sternly say "Ace" and he stands up and walks into another room to lick but he holds his head down as he goes like he's embarrassed.

Last night easy child/difficult child came home buzzed and "had to have" my company. Ace followed me, of course, and when easy child/difficult child said "where's your honk honk" he took off and came back honking it. We both ended up laughing and that triggered hours of honking. Sometimes laughing is better than getting mad. LOL So does your dog have talent, too. DDD

 

[donna723]

Mine amaze me all the time with how human-like some of their actions are! They're like bratty little kids! Trace, my little boy Boston, will always go in his crate when I ask him to. But he always makes me tell him exactly three times to get in before he actually does it. If it wasn't so funny, it would be really annoying! I hold his door open and call him ... "Trace"! And he immediately starts looking all around the room, avoiding eye contact, busy studying the ceiling. I call him again ... "Trace"! He continues to study the ceiling, examine his toenails, more eye rolling ... I finally raise my voice ... "TRACE"! And he will look at me with faked surprise like, "Who, me? Were you talking to me?" And just because I can't resist it, I always tell him, "No, not you. The OTHER Trace"! I tell him, "Come on!" and he hops right up and runs in to his crate! It's his little game and he never tires of it.

My Katy is one of the smartest dogs I've ever had. She understands every single word I say to her! She is extremely toy-motivated and always has one favorite that nobody else is allowed to play with. If it goes under the furniture and she needs help getting it out, I ask her "Where is it?" and she will get down and show me with her head exactly where it is. She knows what we call the different rooms in the house. If she loses track of her toy, I can tell her, "It's in the dining room" and she will run straight in to the dining room and look for it! She will nod or gesture with her head or even move her eyes to the side if she wants to call something to my attention. She absolutely loves people and loves the attention she gets in crowds. Katy works a crowd like a politician running for office and she will introduce herself to total strangers! If we're standing near other people and somebody doesn't notice her down there, she will tap them on the leg with her nose till they look down, and then they see her smiling up at them like she's saying,"Hi! I'm Katy! You can pet me if you want to"! And almost all of them do.

 

[DDD]

I'm smiling, Donna, because the pretending not to hear is one of Ace's tricks too but he doesn't have a ritural like Trace. Your description painted a perfect picture. Katy sounds like she's "gifted", lol. DDD

 

[InsaneCdn]

If I was to post dog stories... I'd blow my cover.
You wouldn't believe the stories... but anyone who knows me would know its me.

 

[DammitJanet]

I think you may have just blown your cover. Is that you Addie?

 

[flutterby]

Before I vacuum, I pick up all of Jewel's toys and put them in her basket. She watches me intently, then goes to the basket and sniffs them all, making sure they are ok. It's like a mama checking on her babies. Then as soon as I'm done vacuuming, she pulls them out again, checking them over.

When she goes out at night to go potty, she barks very quietly when she's ready to come in. During the day, she's loud as can be. But at night she whispers so she won't wake the neighbors.

 

[skeeter]

oh, Boxers have a great "guilt" look about them, don't they? The "I'm sorry I won't ever do that again" and they are at it 5 minutes later. Ours (part boxer, part lab) loves squeaky toys. If it doesn't squeak, or if the squeaker breaks, Buddy won't touch it again.
We currently have, among others, "Piggy Binky". It's this obnoxious blue rubber pig that sounds more like a sick duck than a pig. Buddy LOVES it. He'll stand there and squeak and squeak and squeak. He'll stomp on it to squeak it. He'll lay on it to squeak it. But he'll pick it out of the others when we ask him "Where's piggy binky?".
Buddy is NOT permitted in the kitchen while we are eating. He learned this from our previous boxer, Wyley. He also learned from Wyley that as soon as the dish washer opens he can come in and get a cookie, but he has to sit and hold up a paw. Wyley was extremely left "handed" and always held up his left paw - Buddy does exactly the same thing, although he uses his right paw for everything else!

 

[DDD]

Ace also knows he is not allowed in the kitchen during meal time. Sigh! husband, on the other hand, hasn't quite figured that out. It drives me crazy when husband either calls Ace to come by his chair. Ace, of course comes in, but he keeps his eyes on me the whole time looking like "I'm sorry but he called me and I have to be here." Pretty sad that a dog is smarter than a
78 year old educated adult! DDD

 

[Hound dog]

I'm never quite sure if Molly is not a human disguised as a dog. She understands human speech so easily, and always has.

She does the toy thing too. She could do it with colors as well as the name of the toy because she had several balls once that were various colors, and to just see if she could.....I started asking her for different colored balls.

If I inform her something is a baby (mostly this has to do with baby animals) she'll instantly mother it, watch over it, protect it, and teach it just as she would a puppy. I said usually do this with new baby animals I bring into the home..........and yeah it's really funny to watch her with a turtle by the way..........but she'll do it with an infant too and I don't even tell her to do it. The only grandchild who hasn't learned to walk by holding on to Molly is Evan because he wasn't here. She used to keep Alex out of trouble as a baby by gently lifting him by the diaper and gently pulling him back to where he was put by me. She'd guard over Alex......protect him from bumping himself.

Molly also plays soccer, kid you not. She loves to go fishing......and yes, she has her own method to fish and does catch things.......and she loves to go sledding in the winter. lol

And Molly is an excellent judge of people. Now she won't let anyone in if we don't tell her. But once we say it's ok, it's ok. BUT if Molly continues to growl low in her throat and maintains a watchful stance....we know something is up with the person she let inside. She was in this mode the whole time M was in the house......once the idiot tried to pet her, she bit him in the *ss. I didn't correct her. I'd just told him she was warning him and to leave her alone. lol

Betsy is much smarter than she lets on too. Not quite at the same level as Molly, but she can identify her toys. She's very loving with Aubrey, Brandon and Connor. She hasn't met Oliver yet. Katies kids make her nervous and we've never reached the point where it was safe to let her out of the crate with them here. She tries to mother the grands too, but is torn between mothering and being a "kid" along with them. lol

 

[BusynMember]

Ah, dog stories. I *love* dogs.

I have a cocker/lab mix and of all my dogs she is the most homely one. If she had ever been a shelter dog (she wasn't), she would have been euthanized because she's not flashy enough to get attention. But, boy, is she smart. She's better than an alarm clock and wakes me up every morning at 5am sharp (I have to get up for work at that time). If I let out the dogs and one doesn't make it inside (I forget) she comes to lick me again until I let him in. If one of our pooches has a potty accident, she wakes me up and shows me and looks at me. Spooky. She is so tuned into her humans. She is the dog who would wake us all up if the house caught on fire and she wouldn't quit until we were awake and safe. She is like a mother hen. I think she's more lab than cocker because my two cocker mixes sure ain't the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree...lol.

My lil man, Damian, who is a ****zu-chihuahua is also very bright and tuned in. When he looks at me, I feel like he's trying to talk to me. He lets us know exactly what he wants. When he's hungry he goes to his bowl and pushes it around.

 

[mstang67chic]

Chester cracks me up sometimes. He's a HUGE toy freak and will obsess over a new toy for days. Usually it's to the point that we have to put it up at night because he'll bring it to bed (he sleeps with us) and squeak it every few minutes to make sure it's still ok. He too knows his toys...foxy, duck, quack quack, Stewie....there's a long list. The newest one is a purple squeaky...um....cow? that showed up in a package this week.

If he wants something, he'll come to you and paw/whine/jump on you depending on the situation and where you are. If you ask him if he wants to go out and he doesn't respond, then you have to ask him what he wants and tell him to show you. He did that once when he had had some "intestinal" issues. I had been feeding him boiled chicken and rice but at this time he was back on his regular food. When I told him to show me what he wanted, he ran into the kitchen, sat in front of the stove and looked up. He'll also go sit beside our dresser when he wants to play the red dot game as that's where we keep the pointer.

If he's tired and wants to go to bed and we're still up, he'll come up to the miscreant and give them a "aren't you ready to go to bed YET?" look and then go to the bedroom. THis is repeated as necessary.

There are a lot of behaviors that both dogs have that show their intelligence. I guess I just take a lot of it for granted.

 

[donna723]

I just love reading everyone's dog stories! They're such amazing little critters. And Lisa, I would trust Molly's instincts ... dogs usually right on and are much better judges of character than people are. If there is ever anyone that my dogs take an instant dislike to, I listen to them and they're always right! My son used to have a huge loveable yellow mutt ... the only person he ever bit was my ex!

They sometimes have an almost psychic connection with their owners. My daughter and sister in law have two large dogs, Crash (a male lab mix) and Sasha (an Australian shepherd mix). When Allison became pregnant, Sasha seemed to know it almost before she did! She had always been equally attached to both Allison and Matt but once she was pregnant, Sasha never left Allisons side. She had to sit right next to her on the sofa and when Allison got up, Sasha got up and followed her where ever she went, even to the bathroom and she became very protective of her! Once Ethan was born, she was fascinated with him, just reverent in her treatment of him. She was very protective of him and wouldn't let a stranger near him until they told her it was OK. When he was a newborn, he'd wake from a nap and when they'd bring him out to the living room she'd have to check him out to make sure he was OK, then she was allowed to kiss him on his ear. When he was sleeping, she'd tiptoe into his room to check on him all the time, peeking in to his crib. You could hear her toenails on the wood floor over the baby monitor.

My Katy has her rituals too. She sleeps in her crate at night, and just like a kid, she likes to have a little notice before bedtime. She's a bit chubby and has to have a little midnight snack and a drink to tide her over before she goes to bed. I'll tell her that it's almost bedtime - she runs right to the food bowl and eats a few mouthfuls of food, then in to the kitchen to get a drink. Then she climbs up in my lap for her hugs and snuggles and then she's ready for bed. We do this every night!

 

[mstang67chic]

I forgot one of Chester's "things" that I discovered purely by accident. He had come to me wanting out one time but I was in the middle of something and jokingly told him to "go tell Daddy". Joke was on me when he actually did it!

 

[DammitJanet]

LOL....all dogs cant go tell mommy and daddy?

Nina is my developmentally delayed dog. If she is out of her pen she is stuck like glue to me if she sees me. Sometimes I can tell her I am going back in the house and she better follow daddy down to the woods if she wants to stay out. Now the one thing she does know completely well is the word Pen. She can be anywhere in the yard and if you yell Pen Nina Pen...she will stop what she is doing and run into her pen. This is a good thing because she doesnt understand come, here girl, or what a leash is...lol.

Now Buddy is smart but he is evil. I bet the people I bought him from danced the minute I drove out of sight. They swore he was house trained. Ha. I guess if you meant he was trained to potty in the house. He is also a squeaky toy freak. Once the squeaky is gone forget it. But he can get tear up the toys in no time considering he is only about 5 pounds! And he can rule that 50 pound pitbull like a warden! Nina cowers when Buddy barks. Buddy also eats all the fingers and toes off every doll Keyana gets if she leaves them down where he can get to them. Infuriates me! I want to plant my foot firmly up his behind.

 

[donna723]

Janet, after all these years, I still don't know if my dogs are potty trained or if I am! Since they don't all get along (Katy and Ragan hate each other!)I have to use the old "crate and rotate" routine so they're not all out at once. They don't mind because they're used to it and they sleep half the time anyway. As soon as I let them out of the crate I take them outside to potty and I take them again before they go back in to the crate. We do this every time and they go out again before they go to bed. It's more me 'anticipating', than them being trained. After five long years, Katy has finally started going to the door if she needs to go out. She'll just stand there and stare at me and half of the time she doesn't really need to go out, she's just bored and wants to walk around the yard, roll in the grass, and check out the kitties. If I don't jump right up to take her out, she will walk toward the dining room, still looking at me. This is doggie blackmail and what she's really saying is, "If you don't take me out, I'll go in and pee on the dining room carpet again!" So then I take her out and she walks around and rolls in the grass and watches the birds fly by ... and before we come in she will either pretend to pee or she will squeeze out a few drops just to show me that she really did need to go out!

 

[Star*]

Bull has a comprehension of around 180 words and phrases....he is highly intelligent.

Casper doesn't have that large of a comprehension HOWEVER he can comprehend certain spelled words and when he figured out W.A.L.K. I started signing it to DF. He figured out the signed version of many words as well.

Pootie? Pootie is dang near a genius. She is probably the absolute smartest dog we have ever known in our lives.

Olivia? She got a late start in learning comprehension, but since we talk to our dogs like we do people she is coming right along nicely.

People are absolutely blown away when they come to our home and see how our dogs interact with us and how we speak to our dogs - to us? They are furry people that speak English and while YOU can't understand them - we communicate completely without any barriers whatsoever.

I've never not known what was wrong with anyone of them. Except when Casper at the duck.........that was just a complete gobsmack.

 

[flutterby]

How smart is my dog? She got skunked at 5am this morning. Wasn't even outside for 30 seconds.

 

[Jody]

Broady is my golden retriever and he is pictured as my avatar. I think he's super smart. When he came home at 9 weeks old, he never had an accident in the house. This was going from a pen with all of his sisters and brothers straight to the house. He went potty in the grass when we first brought him home and he was instantly house trained. I never raised my voice at him, nor did I allow the kids. I realized very quickly that a simple no in a regular voice would make Broady stop whatever it was he was doing and find something else to do. Monday-Friday after he goes out he goes instantly to his crate and sits down, on the weekend he jumps back into the bed with me. He knows when I get ready for work, that he has to be crated. I love that most of all. I used to have a dog Lucy that had to be chased to get her in her crate. That drove me nuts. I was having sleep apnea issues, and one night I stopped breathing 3 different times. I had fallen asleep in the chair and Broady noticed what was going on, all three times he jumped off the bed and put his two front paws on my chest and pushed gently. It woke me up and I realized that I had been gasping for air. He was just a little over a year old and he never hurt me when he did it. With my fribromyalga sometimes when I am having a full blown attack, it is hard to get around. I tell Broady help mommy, he will back up until he is very close to me and I can pull on his collar to help me get up and get my balance. I love my dog, I think he is just the best dog ever. He truly is my best friend. I can't wait to get home and see him every day. He gives me kisses and then he gives you a great big smile everytime. He's always happy to see me. Can it get any better than that. Sometimes he wu wuu wuuu's me and I wu wuu wuuu back. Dogs make life so much better!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[InsaneCdn]

Janet...

Infuriates me! I want to plant my foot firmly up his behind.

Are you intending to do that from your wheelchair?

Just wondering...