Kiri is officially the second smartest dog we've ever had.

[draggar]

She is dangerously intelligent.

She's learned problem solving skills - thinking ahead multiple steps - If I do A it will cause B to happen then I get C.

Then, what put her in the top 3 - she learned deception. While playing, she would literally fake in one direction and then go in another just to try to throw me off balance. You can tell she plans ahead.

When I was out with her, if I started to walk back to the house, she'd dig her heels in like she had to go to the bathroom still, only to want to run around some more.

What makes her #2? Something Suki (Malinois we fostered for malinois rescue) never did in the short time we had her. While Suki also knew deception (and so did Mango, #1) Kiri has learned something that puts her up in the top two, close to Mango (and this is something Mango knew how to do very well).

She's also learning how to deceive the schutzhund helpers. She acts like she doesn't care about the sleeve / toy until they bring it to her then SNAP - it's hers.

She prefers to ambush than to make a lot of noise at a stranger.

She'll taunt either Zorro or Gallon with a toy with the only intention to get them off the couch so she can be on the couch.

Kiri has learned how to flat out lie.

It started when she acted like she had to go to the bathroom - desperately. When I take her out - she just wanted to run around. I learned how to tell the difference - when she wants to run, she has a smile on her face.

But - she's also learned that if she acts like she wants to go out, again desperately but no smile. I get up and put my shoes on, I walk to the door only to have her quickly run around to the cabinet where the rawhides are with that "since you are up" look.

Kiri knows how to lie and the scariest part is that Artemis, at 9 months, is learning deception. She is her mother's daughter. My wife has warned Artemis' co-owner about this fact, it will be annoying as hell but she'll make an excellent working dog.

[BookstoreEscapee]

She'll taunt either Zorro or Gallon with a toy with the only intention to get them off the couch so she can be on the couch.

OK, that's just funny! And anyone who says dogs can't smile has never had a dog.

Pablo's favorite game was one he use to play whenever we came home. We'd come up the stairs and he'd be whining and crying wanting out of the bedroom; open the bedroom door and reach to pick him up, and he'd run under the bed. When you walked away, he'd come back out and whine, only to run back under when you turned around. If you ignored him, he'd creep closer and closer, whining, until you turned around...then he was back under the bed. Eventually he'd let you catch him (and then he'd sit in your lap the rest of the night if you let him). (When he was at my parents' house, he would run around the kitchen table, and under the chairs.)

One day I got up on the bed, hung off the side, reached under and pulled him out. The next day, he ran under the bed, but went to the other side. So I hung off the other side, reached under and pulled him out. The next day, he ran under, and sat there right smack in the middle where I couldn't reach him from any side!

Another time I opened the bedroom door just enough for him to get out, and hid against the wall so he couldn't see me. He crept out, and when he realized I was there he turned to run back in but the door wasn't open very far and he stopped, and I grabbed him. I tried it again a few days later, and he would not come out of the room.

[JLRodgers]

One of my families dogs does the toy-couch trick thing...:
She'll look at the couch where a dog is, and then go get her toy. She'll take her toy up to another of our dogs like "if I give you this, can I have yours?" type of thing. The other dog will take her "offering" and she'll take their toy - then immediately take her toy back (even if in their mouth) and run down the hall carrying both toys. Then the dog will chase her!

She'll drop the toys like "oh crap!" and scatter back down the hallway like she's scared (as the other "mean" dog took her toys) -- only to run to the couch to lay down where the other dog was and act like she was sleeping so the humans think she's innocent. Then when the other dog realizes what happened..... she just looks at them and seems to almost smile.

Yep... a multi-step process just to get a couch cushion. I call her the demon dog because she's one evil little thing -- adorable as hell when doing it, but it's still evil.




And that's to say nothing of my current and past smart cats... they can open and move cages, open doors, and go from "I'm sleeping" to "I'm on your head and thanks for the food that was on your fork" in the time it took to get a fork from the plate to your mouth. My cat actually played with the above dog... they were best friends (live at different places now -- still in the family though). demon dog would go after cat, cat would go after dog. Of course when they were "kitten and puppy" when they first met, and almost the same size -- I guess that was to be expected.