View Full Version : My dog's not so dumb.............
Funny thing. Recently, I started realizing that when I say "Oh S**t!" in the kitchen, the dog runs out there, thinking I dropped some food.....since I do tend to say that right after I drop food.
Tonight I was filling the pepper grinder and I spilled some on the counter and said the magic words, and she came running. :laff:
LOL. It didn't take long for our dog to figure out that w a l k means time to go for a walk.
Teacher Terry
12-30-13, 9:34pm
I read that the average dog knows 260 words. They are just pretending not to understand>8)
try2bfrugal
12-30-13, 10:45pm
Our dogs ears visibly perk up when we just so the word "Go". He just listens for key words of things he likes to do all day long. He gets excited when I flush the toilet and go downstairs because I usually do that before I take him on a w a l k.
He also get excited when my husband gets a text, because often it is from one of the kids to be picked up at the train station, which means the dog gets to go along for the ride. We call him adventure dog because he always wants to go some where. When we come home from walks he freezes at the front door and refuses to go in until we push him because he doesn't want his walk to end.
To barge into this conversation and turn it to cats...our cat understands "I'll be back." She waits patiently.
goldensmom
12-31-13, 12:07am
LOL. It didn't take long for our dog to figure out that w a l k means time to go for a walk.
Dogs, our dogs anyhow, recognize voice inflections so even if we spell the word, because the voice inflection is the same each time, they know what it means. They also recognize dress and actions, for example, if we are 'dressed up' they just lay there knowing they aren't going anywhere whereas if we dress normal they are at the kitchen door ready to go. We can also hum certain tunes that they recognize as time for dinner, go outside, etc..
Gardenarian
12-31-13, 12:19am
They sure do seem to understand more of our language than we do of theirs.
The dog I grew up with got Milkbone treats for going out and doing her business. We'd ask her, "Do you want to go out and get a Milkbone?"
It got to a point that we had to SPELL Milkbone, if we mentioned them in other contexts, as she would immediately run for the back door, then.
My son texts when he comes over and is about to come to the front door. My dogs now think every text I get is my son at the door and they run barking excitedly to the front door.
It's amazing really, how smart both dogs and cats are....they look for all kinds of cues, whether they understand your words or not, they figure things out pretty quickly just from observing your mannerisms, demeanor, etc.
And if they are on a regular daily routine, life is pretty much a no brainer for them... :)
Hahaha...........it was funny realizing that it was a cus word that got her to running to the kitchen!
I've noticed that its more the various intonations that she responds to. When she seems to need to go outside, we say "Do you want to go outside?"......and she gets all excited. But if I just mumble the "tune" of it, she still responds.
Then on the other hand......we say "okay!" when she's allowed to go outside (after we make sure there aren't any wild animals in the back yard), and also when she comes in and has to sit down before she gets her treat. We we say "Okra!".......she doesn't respond. Or "Oprah!".....she doesn't respond. But she immediately jumps up with the "okay!".
It just seems like her intelligence is pretty selective. Sometimes it seems like she's out-to-lunch. hahaha
Miss Cellane
12-31-13, 8:29am
For about two weeks after every vet visit, my cat hides when she hears the jingle of the car keys.
She knows "dinner" means the canned cat food. She will race to the kitchen every time she hears the refrigerator door open, because somehow she knows food comes out of it and maybe, just maybe, this time she'll get some.
I go to bed at the same time pretty much every night. The cat will go and sit on the bed about 15 minutes before bedtime. If I stay up late, she'll come and meow and try to get me to go to bed.
SteveinMN
12-31-13, 10:54am
We set up special ringtones on my mom's phone so she knows when certain people are calling (me, DW, etc.) or when it's a call she can skip. Her dog recognizes the rings. No reaction when DW or others call. When I call, though, whether the phone is answered or not, the dog runs to the front window to see if I'm coming over. I'm the one who takes her on walks. And she knows it.
Cats don't tend to be as good at this. Although our current cats have figured out the doorbell in all four places we've lived with them. Each time took only a couple of hearings for them to get it. From then on they run to the door every time they hear the bell (currently an electronic trilling sound) because of course whoever is coming is coming to visit them!
iris lilies
12-31-13, 11:49am
Cats don't tend to be as good at this. Although our current cats have figured out the doorbell in all four places we've lived with them. Each time took only a couple of hearings for them to get it. From then on they run to the door every time they hear the bell (currently an electronic trilling sound) because of course whoever is coming is coming to visit them!
That is so cute, they are acting like dogs. None of my cats were ever excited at the doorbell. Sometimes they found it an intrusion, sometimes it elicited mild curiosity.
lmerullo
12-31-13, 12:39pm
I swear one of my previous dogs was a reject from some kind of training program, although we could never narrow it down. He was very well behaved in some aspects, but totally out of control in others. For instance, he would allow people INTO the house, but not back out! My next door neighbor would come in often, but we would always need to "release" him back out.
This dog would know what we were saying, so we began to spell. He caught on to that, so we would "creatively word" things... for example: Want to go through the door there and wander around? instead of take a walk...
My current dog will watch TV, and gets very excited if there is a dog on TV. We now say "dog on tv" and the dog checks it out... of course, if it's not a dog we get a look from her that says we're dummies! The camel is currently my son's shout out to the dog, and she's not amused!
Ha ha, our dogs will respond to any word that starts "wa..." so Walter, want, etc. We don't even bother to spell w a l k, just mention to each other "is it time for a W?" or "preamble"? because "wander" would start some excitement, of course! They have also figured out that if we get all the hiking stuff together but not any dog leashes or dog water thing, and we give a treat after we take all the stuff to the car, then it's a day hike and they aren't going. If we put leashes in the packs, they know they are going and they won't wait in the treat area but run out to the back of the car. If OTOH we get out the hike stuff but also the cat's litter box and food bowl and put him in the car, then they are going to Grandma's house for some amount of time. The cat gets upset if any suitcases are brought upstairs for any length of time, and/or if his litter box and food are stationed by the front door. Unlike the dogs, he does not enjoy Grandma's house; less so the cat boarding place.
Miss Cellane
1-1-14, 7:58am
And there's this dog I used to dog sit. Beautiful golden retriever. I'd go and stay at her house for a week or two when her people went on vacation.
Then they had a baby, and I didn't dog sit. But I baby sat for them at my house two afternoons a week. Then, when the baby was about a year and a half old, they had their first grown-up night out for New Years Eve, and asked me to babysit at their house.
Buffy, the dog, was delighted to see me again. All evening, as I cared for the baby, Buffy followed me around, sat right next to me, licked me, wanted pets. Then I got the baby to sleep and went downstairs. Buffy followed.
Then I noticed she was limping. Badly. Very badly. After a few steps, she couldn't keep her paw on the ground and was hobbling around on three feet. I was frantic. I checked her paw, but couldn't see anything. Carefully felt her leg, but nothing seemed wrong. No blood, no swelling, no puncture wound. But she refused to go out at 11 pm for her usual last potty break of the day. Then she could only take two or three steps before she had to sit down.
Which gave me a huge dilemma. Should I call the owners, out for the evening for the first time in a year and a half, and have them come home to check her out and maybe take her to the emergency vet? Or let them enjoy themselves and come home to an injured dog?
Ended up not calling them, but sitting on the floor with Buffy's head cradled in my lap, as she whimpered occasionally.
Then her owners got home. She sprang up, ran out the door to potty, and ran back in. Leaving me standing there with my jaw dropping. Buffy was perfectly fine. She'd obviously been upset that I was focusing on the baby and not on her, and devised a plan to fake me out and get some attention. Not a dumb dog at all.
Great story, Miss Cellane!! Love it.
DH and I are definitely "proud parents" of our lab/border collie/terrier mix. I KNOW she says "out" in the morning to tell me it's time for our walk. She stretches her mouth out and it sounds a little like a two-syllable yawn: "Ahh---oooo"--and it's not a howl--it's more like a question the way she says it.
She has a good vocabulary, and since she's got border collie AND lab, she LOVES retrieving, and knows the difference between her ball, stick and frisbee. She'll retrieve with gusto all day. If she loses sight of the ball and doesn't know where it landed, she'll relentlessly go on a figure eight search pattern across the whole yard until she finds it. She won't give up--even when we tell her it's OK!
I think animals are so much smarter than what we give them credit for.
Great stories!
catherine.........I'm not sure our little doggie is much smarter than we give her credit for! haha
She's a "mutt" that was a stray, and I think the first 4 months of her life (before coming to us) were spent NOT being trained and being abandoned...........so.........she is REALLY neurotic.
It took us a really long time to calm her down. She's pretty good now, but when my kids are home and the 4 of us are going outside to say our goodbyes, or take a ride in the golf cart, she totally freaks out.....She can't stop howling and barking and has run outside (where she's not supposed to be) if she thinks she's being left behind. There's just no training her or consoling her in moments like that.
But we love her just the same! :)
When I walked my late dog Gemma through my old neighborhood, I was careful to avoid passing homes where the dogs might be loose ouside. When walking past one house, two small dogs came running down the fenced in driveway; I thought the gate was open and said out loud "Oh SH*T!)". Gemma sat.
She was very well trained.
The sight of me putting on tennis shoes and TomDog can barely contain himself with excitement for a walk.
The sound of fridge or pantry door gives the hope for canned food (the rustle of the dog food bag does not get the same excitement level).
The sight of a suitcase and TomDog stays underfoot to the point of tripping us, hoping he won't be left behind again. He loves travel.
He knows the difference between 'get the chicken' (herd them towards the coop) and 'get the coon' (run and bark towards the back fence because something is in the yard that doesn't belong here)
'lay down' means his dogbed, 'laundry' means I'm in trouble and need to hide out in the laundry room awhile, 'truck' means go to the truck for a ride, 'car' means go to one of the SUV's for a ride (we haven't figured out a codeword for which SUV so he just runs back and forth between the two until he can figure out which one we're going towards.
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