People will tell you that animals are dumb, that they only respond to instinct. These people have never owned a dog. Any dog person knows that dogs are not only smart, but they actually plan things out in advance.
When Babe was a puppy, someone told us that her potty training would be easy if we would hang a little bell by the door so she could go to the door and ring the bell with her nose if she wanted to go out. I was skeptical, but bought the bell anyway. Within an hour, Babe understood the concept completely and sure enough, every time she needed to go out, she went to the door and rang the bell.
But after a while, she would ring the bell when she wanted to go outside and play. It wasn’t long before that blasted bell was ringing all day long. I finally took it down. But Babe still understood that to get outside, all she had to do was go stand by the door and stare at me until I let her out.
One night we had just sat down at the table for dinner and were filling our plates when Babe sat at the door staring at me. I ignored her. She then came over to the table and nudged my elbow with her nose. I knew I would have no peace until I let her out, so I got up to open the door. While I was opening the door, she ran back to the table and snatched the food off my plate! Then she just got all comfy under the table ready to take a snooze. I just hate it when my dog is smarter than I am!
Agreed!
ReplyDeleteLast night I made myself a bowl of cereal, went to sit down in front of the TV and the dog starts pushing her water bowl around the kitchen floor. She does this when her bowl is empty, and she will not stop until you fill it up. So I set my cereal down to get her water. I turn around and there she is EATING MY CEREAL! When I pushed her away, do you think she went to drink her water? No of course not, she went to lay on the couch. Mission completed.