Who's the Brightest (or Dimmest) Bulb in the Pack?
There is no doubt Scooter is my smartest pet, and it's the smart ones you have to watch out for, because they cause the most trouble. Stupid pets (and people) are more easily led.
The Boss is fixing our deck. Last summer he added a new set of steps in a different location from the original steps. The dogs used them tentatively at first, but caught on to the new route, even though they mostly used the old steps they were used to. Last weekend, the boss blocked off the path to the old steps, as he's going to tear down that part of the deck.
I come home from work and let the dogs out. When I call them to come in, they go up the old steps and then can't get to the door because he blocked it off. So I'm out there, trying not to wake him up, telling the dogs (with hand motions added) to GO AROUND to the new steps. Scooter caught on immediately and came around. I had to go to the bottom of the new steps to get Zoe to come, and for Peanut--well, I had to let the others in the house, go back out, go down and around to the old steps and encourage him to follow. I don't think it's because he's dumb, just timid. At least that's what I tell myself about my Little Man.
But then The Boss gets rid of the old steps, and the remaining deck is rather high from the ground. He's out there and so is Zoe. He comes in and says, "Peanut isn't the only dumb one." Here Zoe tried to JUMP UP on the deck without the steps (instead of going to the new steps), didn't make it and fell to the ground. Rather stupid, I guess, because she's used the new steps quite often.
Now the old part of the deck is torn down and they have no choice but to use the new steps.
So, tell us about your pets--the smartness they show--or the stupidity.Picture above is of Sis Daisy Lou's dog Bennie, the dog my Mom fusses over 24/7. I'll let her tell her how dumb he is. But he's SO cute, especially in his Mickey Mouse ears from Disney.
posted by Sandy at 3/14/2007 09:45:00 AM
Pet People
16 Comments:
Bennie Mouse, I love it!
I would have to say that the Queen of Sheba is the smart cat in the house but Cheetah is no dummy. When Sheba was in the wild, I would watch her stalk birds at the feeders for hours only to be lost a meal by her kitten Cheetah. Sheba would diligently stalk a bird then Cheetah would bee bop up with her big clodhopper feet as if to say, “What cha doing mommy?” The catch of the day would safely fly off into the wild blue yonder! Sheba would just give Cheetah that look of disgust. Now remember Cheetah was still a kitten at this point and I am guessing that in time, Sheba would have taught her how to hunt but then I came into the picture and now all they hunt are the dang toy mice all over the house! This morning I had to remove one from the bed before making it up. Sheba and Cheetah bring us toy mice in bed all the time. I think it is especially cut when one of them drags their string in bed. We call the string their snake as we believe they think it is a snake they have killed in the wild! Funny to wake up with strings and toy mice in bed but not funny to wake up at 3 in the morning with one of them playing with the toy mouse or string in bed!
I can relate to the deck and stairs with the dogs Sandy. Our sunroom is an add-on addition to the house. We think it was a patio that the original homeowners had enclosed. So the dining room and kitchen windows that were once the outside windows are now the windows to the sunroom from the main house. Does that make sense? Anway, the room is not climate controlled, why they never had the AC/Heat vents run to the room is beyond me but we put a window unit in during the summer months and the Saint installed a gas wall unit and tapped into our propane tank for heat. In the winter months when the room gets really cold at night, we close the folding French doors and windows to the room to save on the heat bill. This was the first room that I confined the girls into when they came into my life and I was training them, plus they see all the outside wildlife from that room so this is their favorite room in the house. How could we close it off to them? Well, I came up with a plan. I close all off except one window which I hang a ‘cut to fit’ shower curtain with suction cups onto the glass of the upper window. The cats get on the futon back in the sunroom and go through the curtained window into the dining room kind of like a pet door! It is always funny to see them get use to the window when we close off the room in the winter. But they are smart and figure it out in no time. But at times we will see one or the other of them sitting and looking at me through the French doors to the house like she is trapped in jail. I open the door and she runs out as if she has forgotten how to get out of the room through the window and into the rest of the house! We say they are only testing us and they win the game as we always open the door from that sad little looking cat in jail!
Oh my, putting all of these stories into words, makes me realize just how much those two cats rule this house!
Who is smarter? The smart one would have to be Mattie. She's always getting into something and trying to blame it on Oscar. Usually if you ask her if she did something, she tells on her self, but lately she has been letting Oscar take the blame. We figured it out b/c Hubby saw her get into the trash, but wasn't able to get to her. When I came into the room and said “who did this?" Oscar hung his head like he was at fault. So I yelled at him and he went and hid under the computer desk. Hubby tells me later that it was Mattie who was in the trash not Oscar. So I felt bad and snuck treats to him. Oscar definitely has middle child syndrome. Always getting blamed for things he didn't do. Stella is my less smart child. If you put a towel over her head she will just lay there and not try to shake it off. She gets confused easily and will run into the wall or a table. I know nothing is wrong with her; she just doesn't pay attention and then freaks out when she knows she messed up. She bumps her head on the table all the time. She stands eye level with the dinning room table. Jazzy cat... He runs on his own agenda most of the time. Then again most cats do.
Well, I would have to say that my oldest Abby is the smartest. I spent alot more time training her because she was the only one there. She can do several tricks and understands what we say best. When she misbehaves we send her to our room to sit on the bed. She goes head down, tail down and only a little back talk (a low growl). She will stay in there until we yell and tell her she can come out now. She will come out and give the big brown sorry eyes, and life returns to normal. While Abby is probably the smartest, she is also afraid of everything. SO I would have say Jake is the most resourceful, but that probably comes from a rough life before we rescued him.
THe dogs have toy buckets that we store their toys in. Abby and Zander will only take the toys off the top and if they are hanging over the side. For some reason, they are afraid of the buckets, so we always had to get their toys out for themm When we brought Jake home and he became more comfortable, he started getting toys out of the bucket. He will stick his head way down in the bucket to get the toys out.
Of course, then we have Zander, the bully. Alot of people don't think Zander is too bright, but I tend to think he is smarter than he lets on. Since he is afraid of the toy bucket, he just sits and waits for Jake to take the toys out, then Zander goes and steals every one of them. It is really funny to watch, because Jake just goes back and gets another.
Now, I have to say Annabelle may not be the brightest pup on the block, but by golly she is the sweetest. She is the baby and gets her way 99% of the time. Unfortunately she just isn't very smart. About the only thing the dog understands on a regular basis is: "Treat" "Potty" and "Outside" Other than that she just kind of stares at you. Occasionally she will come when called, but for the most part she just turns her head a little to the side when you talk to her. Regardless, she is the baby and doted on constantly.
Well I don't know what ya'all are talking about because all three of my girls are so smart they are members of mensa! NOT!
I guess when it comes down to it my baby Penelope is the least smart of the three. She has a harder time figuring some things out sometimes. Like she loves sitting in a laundry basket but if I turn it upside down on her she doesn't realize she can turn it over to get out so she jus settles down and will sit there for however long I take to let her out. Now when she was scratching the carpet at Christmastime I put her under the basket and she did start scratching on it so I would let her out but cuoldn't get it that she could turn it over. It's ok that she isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier cause she is my beautiful sweet girl as they all are and I love them just the way they are!
Ok, trying this again since my computer lost service and everything I just wrote. I was at Cats Are Us earlier today and wanted to tell you what Gerta was doing. She was trying to feed a baby kitten and it didn't understand really it was so tiny. There wre two of them. they think the mother was a feral and was killed. Someone found them in thier back yard. They are so tiney thier little headsre the size of ping pong balls and they still have the umbilical cords attatched. They can both fit in your hand and thre is still room left over. There are so precious! Gerta has a magic touch so if anyone can keep them alive and healthy it will be her. Suzanne said she has seen her bring animals back from the jaws of death many times. Please say a prayer for those sweet baby kitties!
I think there are different kinds of smart with animals just as there are with people. Max, found wandering the streets of Fresno, is street-smart. He makes friends with everyone, human and four-legger. He is resourceful, he will wait for an opportunity to take someone's treat when they leave it unattended as Aimee, princess dog, does. He watches and waits for the coast to be clear and he will swoop in and take what he wants. Aimee is smart, trick-wise. She like to please and knows when she has done bad. Charlie sounds like jdt's Annabelle. He is innocent and sweet, looking up with love flowing out of his deep chocolate eyes.
Of the cats, Larry is the smart one. He discovered that if he craps in the cat carrier, we will let him out. So, only really fast trips to the vet for Larry.
To Scooter, everything is new. Hubby says Scooter looks at him like he has never seen Hubby before, every day. Scooter was 8-days old when we got him. He is my baby. Scooter knows how to open drawers to find his furry mouse.
How disgraceful to put Mickey Mouse ears on a dog. Tsk Tsk Tsk.
The poor dog will have serious issues now. Dogs don't have that much sense to begin with, but now you'll have the poor thing thinking it's a mouse. Good grief, the cat's are likely to start chasing him now! If you must play dress up with the dog, at least put something manly on him, like Dragon's wings!
HEY!! This could be another line of products for Dragon Enterprises. We could have an entire manly clothing line for dogs--tuxedoes, hunting jackets (JUST KIDDING), hard hats. And for girl dogs, we could have aprons so that they will remember their place in the kitchen. That's another joke!! Laugh, laugh???
Gotta go now. Guinevere has been drinking them margaritas and she's got "that" look in her eyes. I've got to run and jump in the bed and pretend to be asleep. Geez, not again tonight.....
Hmmmm....Sandy, I just re-read your post and I realized that Zoe is as dumb as she is ugly. :)
Yes, I know. I'll probably catch hell over that one too.
Sigh....I just can't help it.
Skeeter, your cat is smart, not stupid. Tarzan does the same thing. Why push through a curtain when the human slave will open the door for you? A sunroom is a great place for cats--a huge window to the world!
And Adrienne, I can relate to one dog "blaming" the other. We immediately assume Scooter was behind something, like getting things out of the garbage cans (used tissues) but I've caught Zoe, who is always quiet and good, so no one ever suspects her!
JDT, Zander, "the bully" is probably alot like Scooter, and they are usually very smart, but even smart people have insecurities. Scooter can't stand the sound of the air purifier when it "zaps" (needs cleaning)He runs at the sound of nail clippers. He would HATE a bug zapper.
And Alice, you are right. A lot of how a dog or cat behaves is based on their past lives and what they had to do to survive. Street smarts if you will. Catfish is the most vigilant and reacts keenly to the slightest noise, because he had to survive at the river in the wild.
And Dragon, you are only picking on poor Zoe because you are trying to suck up to Daisy to try to get her in the hot tub. But I do like your dragon wing idea. People dress up dogs for Haloween, so they'd be unique. Dragon Enterprises--I really think that would fly. Pun intended. :)
Dragon, the clothing line is a definite seller and I love the idea of Halloween costumes, the Dragon wings will be great! The ideas for Dragon Interprises are endless and will just keep making more money roll in. We need dto get started soon!
P.S. Bennie looks adorable in his mouse ears!
Smart? Dumb? I often wonder if dogs are smarter because you can train them to roll over and fetch...or it cats are smarter because they refuse to do it?
Bennie is much less intelligent than Murphy who can hear the word "squirrel" from 100 yards (and get a certain 'glint' in his eye). Bennie just follows Murphy, barks when Murphy barks, acts happy when Murphy is happy, and runs to the tree to chase the squirrel up it only if Murphy is in front of him. He really has no clue why he's standing at the bottom of a tree looking up. He never did it before Murphy joined our family. He's super-jealous too. Dumb and jealous.....sounds like a typical male, huh?
Poor Bennie, he's a follower. But he's the boss when it comes to his stuffed toys. Bennie can't stand it if Murphy has a toy--he must get it from him, even though there are 10 other toys available. Sis throws a toy to Bennie, he grabs it and shakes it, but when he sees a toy go to Murphy, he drops his and runs over to get Murphy's. And Murphy doesn't care, la, la, la, he's still a happy little dog.
It's funny how dogs truly show jealously.
But sis, it's just like me when Aunt Dolly got us two of the same sweaters in different colors. I always liked yours better. And you were always so selfish and never wanted me to wear your clothes. :) I wore them any way.
Sandy,daisylouu, I had a Aunt Dolly too so we have that in common.
We've all got a LOT in common I'd say!
Yep. we sure do!
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