How smart is your dog/cat?

[orezok]

Tess, our 11 year old Golden amazes me some times. She is very observant and sometimes seems to read our minds. For example, if my wife and I go to the bedroom during the day to change clothes at the same time, she thinks that perhaps we are going for a walk and gets all excited, but only depending upon the clothes we change into. If it's exercise clothes she whines and yelps and runs to the back door ready to go. If it's dress clothes, she just lies down. If I then fill our water bottles while wearing exercise cloths she knows that we are going to the gym and immediately lays down and mumbles to herself, "why can't I go?".

If some one is coming to visit us, she will start barking at the front door several hours before the expected time of arrival. I have no idea how she figures this one out.

What special intelligence does your dog (or cat) exhibit?

 

[k0ua]

I can tell you this, some of our kitties were very smart, and some pretty dumb. It just depends on the animal. They are not all the same. One of our present cats, when he wants to go out will stand by the door and gently meow, but if you ignore him he will try to turn the door handle by standing up on his hind legs and takes both paws and turns the handle. If it was a lever handle, I believe he could open it, but since it is round (and locked) he has never made it out yet. But it is not for lack of trying. But they do have little personalities and do exhibit different levels of intelligence.

 

[MoKelly]

Our dog has a few abilities. The best is he knows when my kids are about to argue or fight. He gets between them and starts barking. He will bark 2-3 times at one then turn and bark 2-3 times at the other. He does this even as they are 20 feet apart. Somehow, he knows the difference between real fights and play wrestling.

He also has the ability to know when someone is just walking past the house or coming to see us. If the person is coming to the door, he will bark when the person is way down the block. If the people are just walking by, he ignores them. It is amazing to me.

MoKelly

 

[rsallen]

Dogs?
Dogs are one of the most adapt readers of body language on the planet.
It can and has been argued that their ability in that area is far superior than the human.

Carrying that thought farther the domesticated canine as a general rule recognizes it's subservient role, after all we control it's food, it's grounds, it's exercise and it's mental input; actually it's entire survival and life. So that they would look to us and study any clues for our intentions shouldn't be that much of a surprise.
It's easy to over look our own body language as how the dog sees it from his perspective.
Where as it may take say your son or daughter to see something like the coasters out on the counter to figure quests are coming, your dog has been watching your slightly quickened step or your just barely broken routine. Your pet may even start to associate certain frequent visitors with your pace and demeanor (body language) while your readying for or anticipating the visit.

While I think we humans have long underestimated the intelligence and feelings of the others from the animal kingdom we shouldn't do them the disservice of assigning to them our narrow vision of 'what is smart'.

 

[Baby Grand]

If I open the fridge, nothing.
If I move the can of beans in the fridge, nothing.
If I move the can of spam in the fridge, I hear footsteps and our male cat appears within seconds.

 

[rsallen]

Huh huh, so how does the cat react when you slide out that plate of cold rib eye left from last night?

Has the cat become accustomed to getting some spam when it comes out of the frig?
It's well known that cats and dogs hear frequencies of pitch we have never been able to hear.

 

[rsallen]

Listen all,
none of what I've said should be taken as any detraction from the wonderment of it all.
After all if I'm on the couch and my other half starts pulling something out of the frig I won't know what's for supper till I can smell it cooking or sometimes till I go dish it into my plate.

Our animals can do things we can't, they pay attention to things we don't. Appreciate them for what they are and don't assign human values to them or their intentions.
We only set the rules is all.

 

[brin]

We have a Brittany...He is 8 yrs. old and every night 30 min. before we go to bed we put him out....then when we are ready for bed...We just say out the door...We are going to Bed Now...and in he comes....He also knows when one of us are leaving and according to our actions and what we are wearing if he can come along....He is really smart...scary smart..

 

[/pine]

 

[rsallen]

Okay I can't resist as a life long dog owner;
this is about a dog long passed away..........still miss her.

Any ways, she was about 7 or 8 months old.
She'd learned that barking at the door brought me there to see what the.......
So one night diner was done and we were just getting ready to sitting down to watch something we'd wanted to watch (whatever it was). I'd just put my plate down on the coffee table and the dog starts having a fit at the front door. Well wtf! I didn't hear anything but I walk into the entry way at any rate, look out, nothing. Look at the dog and tell her this is getting stupid then I turn around to open the door and show her that there's nothing there.
Turn back around to say see nothing! Yep, you guessed it no dog.
I walk back into the living room I've got no dinner left.

I know dam well the ***** planned it.
She never got away with that again.