Dogs & Puppies

Jessie just continues to crack me up and amaze me.  Now I know it's so easy to say I have the smartest dog in the entire world.  Lots of us think so, don't we?  Except I really do, lol!  Awhile back I got her her very own Buster Cube.  Since she has a very petite little snoot and mouth, I got the small cube for her.  She is insane over it, once the food is gone from it, she still plays with it for a long time, she just loves the thing. 

The only true problem with this toy is since it's smooth plastic and has four flat sides, it easily skitters underneath the sofa.  Over and over and over.  Retrieving it has become husband's job, too, lol.  Well, after chasing the thing for about twenty minutes, I noticed she wasn't in the room playing with it.  She learned just like our ^Murphy^ did that it needs to be on the carpet to get it to roll rather than just slide - it has to roll to dispense kibble.  Well, tonight she outdid herself....I THINK!!!  You tell me!  When she disappeared tonight we noticed she was after something in the kitchen in the vicinity of their big metal water bucket. she was scratching at the floor and making a racket, but we didn't respond.  Before we knew it, she ran into the room with us and had picked up her food bowl and carried it into the room and dropped it on the floor right in front of us and stood there.  Still we didn't make a move.  Then she kept looking thru the doorway into the kitchen.  I told DH is she pointing to where her cube is, ya think?  He went to check and sure enough it was stuck behind that water bucket.  Now I'm wondering:  was that food bowl she picked up and deposited in front of us her first CLUE?????  That bowl would have been sitting next to the water bucket!  I'm laughing as I'm writing this but I'm really wondering!!!  DH doesn't think they have the ability to think things thru that well, but I'm not so sure!!!  I think they're smarter than we give them credit for!

"What's that Lassie? Timmy's in the well?!" - we have all heard or seen where dogs DO think things thru and can do pretty amazing feats. I believe they do "think" things out - because that is how a lot of dogs are trained to do the amazing things they can do- they "know" what comes next! I know of people who do Agility & Rally - they purposely change a Rally course so the dogs don't know what comes next! What was happening was that the dogs who do the course a lot began to remember or know what was coming next.

Our little Wire girl (Lacey who is is 5 1/2mos old) will also bring out the empty water dish or begin tossing the food dish around to let us know that they are empty and she wants them filled- Now! She waits for her morning treat when I come down the stairs. And all of our dogs that are shown- recognize and Know what the "show" bags are for! Heck Zelda knows that when DH gets out his suit coat that that means "dog show" !

Some of the learning I beleive has to do with the indivdual dog and breed - but overall dogs are very smart (I've heard they have the intelligence of a 3yr old) your DH better watch out - or the dog will outsmart him.

Oh how cute! I am sure Jessie was using the food dish to make you go get her cube unstuck. Smart little girl.

For Maya I have one of those purple flying saucer looking things that unscrew so you can put food in it, and they push it around to get the food to come out. This is how she prefers to eat. She hates to eat out of her dish. If she wants you to fill it up she will pick it up and bring it to you, however it isn't easy for her to get it into her mouth so usually she will bark at it until you come to see what she is barking at. If the water dish is empty she will paw at it, it is ceramic so usually it makes plenty of noise when she does this, if not she will again bark so you know.

That's a hoot!  I agree that our dogs are better thinkers than we give them credit for... especially when we give them toys that encourage them to think and to problem solve, like that cube that your pup has.

Missy's favorite toy in the world is her ball - and she has many of them! (yes, she has an indulgent mama, but also one that can't always find her ball when she's looking for it!)  It often rolls under the couch on her, and at first she'd just stand there whining at me to get it for her.  Then she progressed to trying to get it herself, but whining if it rolled far enough back that she couldn't reach it.  Now she tries to reach it from the front of the couch, but if she can't reach it she goes behind the couch and tries again... and whines if that isn't successful either.  Maybe one of these days she'll figure out how to MOVE the couch? LOL Doubt it, but it would be nice so I spend less time on my hands and knees trying to get that darned ball for her!