Quite recently, the dog researcher Stanley Coren estimated that the average dog's intelligence is roughly as sophisticated as a 2.5-year-old baby's. So far, the studies have shown that dogs can read cues, show emotional connection to their owners, and display signs of jealousy. And cats are no different.
But in order to really get a good view into the mind of our furry friends, it’s best to look at the real-life examples. So when the Redditor Gearski asked “Pet owners of Reddit, what is the most intelligent thing your pet has done?”, stories from pet moms and dads started rolling in, and below we selected some of the most interesting ones.
And if you've ever been surprised by your fur baby’s brain too, share your story in the comments below!
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Playing with my friends dog. Black lab, german shepherd mix. I started to "fake throw" the ball, which tricked her twice. On the third "throw" she just stared at me, so then I threw it for real.
After doing some acrobatic spazzy dog stuff (I tossed it into a tractor tire), she came back and I reached down to her mouth and realized that SHE FAKED BRINGING THE BALL BACK. Our group of friends went bonkers laughing in amazement that she had fooled us all so successfully, and to make it worse she snorted at me, got the real ball, and trotted happily past me after it all went down.
My dog, 3/4 lab 1/4 husky, figured out how to beat the electric fence...it was a radius style and he'd walk circles around the house letting the collar beep until it ran out of juice, then he'd make his escape. He also figured out how to unlock the doors and bolt locks, and turn the handles to escape. We eventually just let him roam the town all day. He'd travel about 15 miles/day visiting his different friends and families, and come back at around the time we came home from school. He used to wag his tail so hard that his whole body wiggled, and to this day, years after he passed at almost 20years old, I still run into people who were friends with "Mr. Wiggles".
My border collies did this too. Never left our 7 acres and would meet up w their pals in the trails behind our house. State park rangers still ask about them.
I know a horse that can escape anything! if he can't figure out how to undo it, he works at it until it breaks. they have to change the locks almost every week.
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My husky would escape, run off, and bring back dead stuff. The most impressive one was when she brought back a full deer leg. No clue where she found that one.
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Ah yes, nothing's more adorable than zapping your dog when it tries to escape because you were too lazy to train it.
I know huskies absolutely NEED exercise. Maybe 1/4 of your dog’s DNA retained that overwhelming drive to go out and walk and walk and walk—-like his own personal Iditarod.
Aww...I agree w/Lauren Ward, "Adventures of Mr Wiggles" needs to be made.
Don't have an electric fence! I may have read this wrong but your dog is not a prisoner who should be electrocuted! Let's put you in that position see how you feel!
To join "her" children in play our Australian shepherd would start running, full speed, parallel to the electric fence, and then cross over- effectively minimizing the jolt. After her romp in the neighborhood with "her" kids, she would sit outside the electric fence howling until we turned it off so that she could come back into the yard. We had Suzy for 17 years and I miss her every day.
Maggie was a black lab that lived down the street. Every day while making her rounds in the neighborhood she'd knock at our back door, come in and head straight for the cat food bowl. She'd eat whatever was there, drink some water and then settle down for a nap. When she woke she'd be on her way. She visited for years until her owners moved away. I still miss that dog.
All that roaming kept him in great shape, my mom's dogs were the same way
My beagle/pit bull mix can sense my seizures and alerts me to them before they happen. He also gets my family if I'm having one and they don't realize it. One time I had a seizure in the bathroom and my parents didn't know until Chili started howling and throwing himself against the bathroom door.
We adopted him almost 3 years ago, and he has no prior training to alert for medical issues: he just knows. Most dogs have to be trained from puppyhood to be service dogs and seizure alert dogs, but not him. He's just a Very Good Boy.
Intelligence is relative and can vary greatly from individual to individual, even within the same species, Yulia Popyk, an animal behavior expert from Petcube, told Bored Panda in an interview. “That said, some experts believe that dogs are generally more intelligent than cats, although both species are capable of learning new things and forming complex relationships with humans and other animals.”
According to her, one way to measure intelligence in animals is through cognitive testing, which assesses an animal’s ability to remember and apply information. “However, these tests are not always accurate and should not be used as the sole gauge of an animal’s intelligence,” she added.
Dog was a puppy. My mother just found out her abusive uncle had died. She was flooded with emotions and broke down crying. I was downstairs with headphones on. Dog came downstairs and paced wildly around me until I got up, then led me upstairs. I opened the door and he ran in and laid down next to her and howled with her. Dogs and humans are coevolved. Empathy isnt a human concept
When he was a puppy, he taught himself to clean up. We still kept him in a nice and comfortable cage back then so he had a place to go to when he was tired or overwhelmed. Every night he would drag all his toys with him into his cage, and every morning he would bring them back out again.
My dogs are trained to ring the bell to go outside to go potty. I have two stories about them and their bell knowledge.
For the funnier one, we had gotten the red husky a birthday toy and she was playing with it. The younger one was clearly jealous. She went to ring the bell so we let them outside. The younger one basically zoomed outside and then immediately back in to steal the toy. This has become a regular move for her.
Sweet but depressing story. Before we got our youngest, I had an older black lab with the red husky. She had kind of started to go downhill and needed to go outside more often than the husky, but she had not been bell trained. My husky would walk over and ring the bell for us to take the lab outside to go potty. We liked to give her time out there, so we would leave her out for a bit and the husky would ring the bell to remind us to let her in. After we put the lab down, for weeks my husky would stand at the back door ringing the bell for us to let her back in. It absolutely broke my heart when she did this, and just writing it now is making me cry again. :(
Awwwww. Breaks my heart too. Husky was like why won't you let her in Mommy?
There are many stories of pets sensing when their owner is ill and even helping them to get help, which we may certainly interpret as a sign of intelligence and empathy. Yulia recounted one story of a dog who alerted his owner to a fire in the middle of the night and saved his life. “When pets feel that their owner is not feeling their best, pets may show signs of stress, such as panting, pacing, or whining,” she said.
My cat learned how to open the fridge. A prior cat learned how to roll over on command from watching us try to teach the dog to do it. we would force the dog draw a little girl after giving the command, and then give her a treat and praise her. The cat wanted in on this and saw her getting a treat for rolling over so he started to do it too. He learned how to roll over faster than the dog did.
My girlfriends cat likes black metal. A lot apparently. She's a pretty rambuncious gal, but if you put on Immortal or Behemoth, she sits in front of the speakers, lies down, then takes a nap.
I tried playing the Get Up Kids once. The cat slapped me, then hissed. She kept yelling at me until I put black metal back on. She then jumped back into my lap like nothing happened.
The cat has better taste in music than my boss's parrot. It's a running joke that we learned over Zoom at my work: My boss's parrot adores "Baby Shark."
One of my dogs can recognize items. Like the treat jar, the heated blanket. He will stand at attention in front of the item he wants. The treat jar is often in plain site and it’s not a constant thing so it’s clearly a “I would like one of those now” thing. Same thing with the heated blanket. He will stand in front of where it is on the sofa and stare at it until i turn it on. Then he’s toasty and happy.
He also can tell time. Yes they pick up patterns but he knows time. In typically feed them 630 am/pm. No matter what I get up, or what time I arrive home, at 6:29, he goes to where I feed him and stares at me intently. If I take too long, he will go to where I’m at, look at me, and then run back to where he eats. He also likes to go to bed at 900 pm. He will go to his crate, get settled and go to sleep. If we are being too loud or it’s past 10, he “huffs” at us. It’s not a bark, kind of like an exaggerated sigh.
He does not like unsafe walking areas? Mud? He must go around. Snow? He walks verrrrry slowly. Rain? Walk slow. Ice? Hell no. When it’s snowy or icy he won’t go out until he has seen me shovel the deck or put down dog safe ice melt. I joke that he was an OSHA inspector in his past life.
We had a cat that would do this if he wanted something. His name was comet he passed away beginning of this year
On the other hand, there is no definitive answer as to whether pets can understand their owners in a way that, let's say, would save them or comfort them if they’re going through rough times. “Pets are individuals with their own unique personalities and behaviors. Some pets may be more attuned to their owners’ emotions and may be more likely to sense when something is wrong, while other pets may not be as aware,” she said.
Yulia added that if you think your pet may be sensitive to your emotions, it is always best to consult with your veterinarian or a certified animal behaviorist to get their professional opinion. She also noted that all pet owners should consider the emergency pet insurance, “Emergency Fund.”
Before letting my dog out into the garden I usually put the kettle on so I can make a coffee on my way back, well now he has figured out how to turn the kettle on and does this whenever he wants to go out.
Reminds me of a golden retriever I used to own when I had a waterbed. She wasn't allowed on the waterbed. Every time I came home, the waterbed would be covered in golden retriever hair, and undulating wildly, while she lay in her bed on the floor.
So funny, I had a cat who was not allowed in the living room. We would come home and see him clearly napping on the living room red velvet chair from the window. By the time we had the key in the door and opened it he was in the hallway stretching out and yawning like we just woke him up.
I taught my parrot to say thank you when he gets a treat, but the little s*it now passive aggressively says it to me when he is mad. I didnt know birds could be so emotionally manipulative
My aunt had a parrot that picked up some funny (laced with profanity) words & phrases from her ex. He wasn't exactly a law abiding citizen. One of his best was, "Hide me quick, the f***ing cops are coming!"
Although Yulia believes that intelligence not only is subjective, but varies greatly from one individual to the next, even within the same breed, it mostly depends on people’s personal preferences. “Some people might say that breeds like the border collie or the poodle are more intelligent, while others might say that smaller breeds like the Chihuahua or the Yorkshire terrier are more intelligent. Same with cats, some believe that breeds such as Siamese and Birman cats are more intelligent than others, but there is no scientific evidence to support this claim,” she explained. Yulia concluded that ultimately, it is up to the owner to determine which breed is more intelligent based on their own personal experiences.
My older dog got a stomach bug one time, and he never goes to the bathroom in the house. Well, I guess this time was the exception. He had diarrhea in the house, but instead of going all over, he climbed in the bathtub and went in there for easy cleanup! I wasn't happy, but it was sure as heck better than the alternative!
A long time ago I gave my cat this stuffed toy that looked like my local university's mascot. She rarely ever played with it and it was collecting dust in the back of my closet. One evening I'm watching a college basketball game with my parents and the next thing I know she brings out the toy, drops it right in front of the TV, and starts meowing nonstop. Impressive that she was able to associate the two.
I wouldn't give one of my dogs a treat since the other dog was elsewhere; I didn't want to play favorites.
So the sneaky little bastard leaves the room. Few seconds later, he walks back in, other dog trailing behind.
I got outplayed.
Yup - whenever I try sneaking a treat to one dog while the other is asleep... the other wakes up instantly. They can sense injustice.
Training, however, is one way to get your pet the skills and knowledge that we could attribute to intelligence. “Different trainers may have different methods and goals when it comes to training pets. Some trainers may focus on teaching tricks or obedience commands, while others may work on behavioral modification or socialization,” Yulia said.
My cat has a heating pad, she's seen my plug it in about 5 times before,so she tried to pick up the cord and run into the wall.
My cat know that our computer heats up when it’s used, so he will occasionally sleep on the computer.
I had a dog (toy poodle) pretty clearly try to trade toys with me when I was little. I was playing with an action figure and he brought me one of his toys, put it in my lap, and nudged it forward with his nose all while staring at my toy.
My mom had a horrible and untreatable type of cancer, but she didn't want to go to hospice so we did in-home care instead. She had been bed-ridden and all but completely unconscious for several days, and we knew that she was going to go soon.
I was watching television and just being with her, when suddenly her dog (now mine) got up, started whining and looking directly at her. I immediately knew what was happening, called my aunt in from the other room, and we held my mom's hand as she died just a minute or two later.
“The best way to train a pet for intelligence will vary depending on the animal’s species, age, and individual personality. However, some basic tips that may be helpful include providing the pet with stimulating toys and activities that encourage problem-solving and mental agility and offering rewards for correct responses to commands or tricks. Training sessions should be kept short and consistent and should focus on positive reinforcement rather than punishment,” the pet behavior specialist explained.
“Ultimately, the goal of training is to help the pet better understand and respond to the cues and commands of their human guardians. This can help the pet to lead a happier and more enriched life, as they are better able to communicate and interact with the people and animals around them.”
Every night between 7:30-8 one of my dogs stands at the bottom of the stairs and barks until you go upstairs with him and put him on the bed so he can go to sleep
Turn up at my doorstep two years ago and refuse to leave until I let him inside and let him join the family. He was a persistent kitten, meowing at my door in the rain and sleeping on the doorstep for a week before I gave in.
If my brother’s dog is visiting my dog will pretend to need to go outside. This will excite my brothers dog into going outside. My dog will then stay inside and hide his toys/bones before brother’s dog comes back in.
One of our old dogs used to do this to our other dogs just because she wanted them to go out and leave her in peace. She was a smart dog. We miss her.
my dog constantly makes me believe she understands English. I can say something i’ve never said or trained her to respond too and she’ll do it. i’ll point and tell her to get her blue ball and she’ll do exactly that. now whether or not she wants to keep playing with the blue ball instead of the rope is completely up to her. most intelligent thing she’s done was the time i was locked out of my house and yelled “JUNO LET ME IN” and she busts through the screen on the window. coolest thing ever.
edit: dad wasn’t happy
I had some pets rats and one of them figured out how to open the cage. He'd look me straight in the eyes, grab the door with his teeth and use his tiny paws to push against the frame of the cage and force the door open. Locks were needed after that.
I do miss having pet rats though, such smart animals.
We had a dog capable of memorizing the name of about fifteen of his toys. We just had to say the name of a toy and he was able to pick it up without hesitation. He was a 8 lbs all black miniature poodle .. he lived for 16 years.
Our Sammy (miniature schnauzer), could do this also. But he knew colors as well. He LOVED his assortment of balls. We would tell him, "Go get your green ball." He would root through his toy box and come back with his green ball, same with red, yellow, blue, etc. I still grieve for him! :(
My cat strategically broke the spray bottle we use when he’s being naughty.
He picked it up by the nozzle in his mouth, took it up to a high-ish shelf, and pushed it off to the hard wood floor below. Did this several times until the nozzle snapped off, ripping out a big chunk of the top of the bottle in the process and rendering it completely unusable.
I didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late. Smart little demon.
I used to have a horse who lived to be 32. She was the sweetest horse ever, and her name was even Sugar. Anyway, when she was in her late 20s, she figured out how to open the stall doors. They had a latch that you had to lift up then pull to the side. She figured out to use her lips to lift the latch up then slide it out to get into the barn and eat the hay. We had to put clasps onto the latches to keep her from doing it. No other horse has ever done this that's we've had, and we've had a good number of horses over the years.
Oh, I should have listed all the tricks our Shetland pony had invented through the years (he also lived to be 32). He was very greedy and knew exactly where to go around the house to sneak plums and apples at the foot of the trees, or even pillage the food for rabbits and chicken. We tried to prevent him from doing this, since it was not healthy for him, very often he ended up with digestive problems because of it. But he would take advantage of the slightest lack of attention from our part to break the fence and escape. I miss him, the farm is way too quiet without him.
My kitten desperately wants to get under the sink, but she’s too little to open the door. So instead, she figured out that she can open a drawer next to the sink, crawl in, and turn left to get under the sink.
My dog opens the door like a bloody velociraptor.
He actually turns the thumb turn lock and lets himself out.
Sometimes convenient but not when it’s cold and wet.
I used to have a dog who was scary smart. I would keep him in a big back yard with a chain link fence. As I learned from my neighbors, he would wait until I left for work and hop the fence. He'd roam the neighborhood causing trouble and even would stop at all the houses he knew someone might give him treats. He'd bug each house until he got what he wanted and then would jump back in the yard before I returned home. I never knew he was gone during the day. Finally one of the neighbors told me he watched the dog jump the fence as soon as I left and he'd jump back in sometimes just seconds before I returned.
Now that is pretty smart, but not as smart as this.
I bought a cable that attached to a big screw that I had to screw into the ground to secure the cable. This would keep him from the fence but he still had full mobility in the yard. This dog, he'd pick up his water bucket, Drag it to the big screw in the yard and dump it onto the big screw. He'd wait a bit and the water would soften the ground so he could rip the screw out. He'd hop the fence dragging the cable and screw. When he got out, he got the cable and screw stuck on the fence from the outside and was still in the yard when I got home. I had to secure it to the stout doghouse and shorten the cable so he could enjoy outside during the day without having free run of the neighborhood. He was quite the problem solver.
We have 2 dogs... one is 14 and the other is 5. The older one will start playing with a random toy she doesn’t care about to trick the 5 year old into wanting it... so she can get the one he had.
Also, they’re not allowed on the couch... but at night, she’ll ninja her way down the hall and stand there listening to see if we’re asleep so she can sneak up on it.
When my one dog is sitting in the couch and there's no space for the other dog, the second one will run outside barking. when the first one gets off the couch to go see what's going on outside, second one comes right back and steals the spot on the couch.
My dad was s**t-talking my cat and calling the cat useless. So my cat scampered into the pasture next door, caught a rat, and dropped it on my dad’s boot. It was the funniest and most unbelievable thing I’ve seen and my dad still tells the story when his friends try and shit-talk my old man cat.
My fiance and I have two dogs. The older one is extremely clingy and is always laying on or near one of us (usually me). He is also pretty stupid. Last night, the younger dog was having a pretty tough time. Panting, fast heart rate, etc. He is pretty anxious all of the time, and last night he was especially so.
The older dog, in a rare showing of emotional intelligence and sympathy, went over to lay on the other dog. Within 10 minutes, he had accomplished what we couldn't - the younger dog was calming down.
We couldn't get to the cat, but we could hear her distress call. So we told the dog, "Go get Kitty." My 3 year old lab-corgi mixed ran half-way around the house to get under the deck where we couldn't get to them and gently pushed her up through a hole next to a tree, without upsetting her, and we were able to get her checked out. Normally she fought like cats and dogs and he played like a puppy.
Turns out the neighbor kid got her high on something and cut her whiskers.
The cat my parents had when I was a baby used to jump on my mum in the middle of the night when hungry so she started closing the door. But he noticed that when I cried she would get up and check on me, if he meowed by his bowl she would feed him. So he started jumping into my crib to wake me up then hopping out to wait by his bowl. No idea how long he did it for but it was all over when mum caught him one night still sitting in my crib.
I have issues with my joints and my sense of propioception, and I fall sometimes. My cat, Mia, seems to understand that a fall not okay, so she runs up and “checks on” me if I’m on the ground for any reason. She’ll run up and headbutt me while meowing. The smartest part about it is that she seems to understand my words a little bit, because she leaves me alone if I tell her, “I’m okay.”
I gave my last dog beef bones in the house but he had to keep them on a towel when he ate them. If I heard the bone hit the wood I would reprimand him and he'd pick it up and put it back on the towel, He got very good at making sure the bones never hit the floor.
He really showed his smarts on an evening when I wasn't planning on giving him a bone. He went into the back room and grabbed his towel, brought it to the living room, and spread it out in front of me before staring at me expectantly. I couldn't refuse him, he got a bone that night.
I was really hungover one Sunday and was taking up the whole couch and wouldn’t let my dog up.
She went into the kitchen and started barking. Full on “something is wrong and we’re going to die” barking.
I freak out and run into the kitchen to see her pawing at the door. I open it and head out to see... nothing.
When I get back to the couch she has curled up in her spot.
She played me.
I left a pot boiling a forgot about it. My kitty Ollie ran up to me, put his paws up and meowed a weird way. I was trying to figure out what he wanted. The handle already started melting and he basically saved me from a kitchen fire. He's a good boy.
We had a litter and had one last pup to give away She was super friendly so we thought it would be easy, but every time we had someone over to look at her she would be super defensive and snap at people. We would then take her out and she said hi to everyone.
Apparently she saw all the other pups bond with someone and leave with them, and she had decided she wanted to stay .....
So my wife talked me into keeping her.
We gathered a litter to take to town to give away. One hid out and got to stay.
Not mine, but my Dad’s dog is quite the smarty. His neighbor runs a daycare inside her house, and one of the little ones learned a very valuable lesson that day. My Dad let his dog out back to take care of his business. He started hearing him bark loudly and when to see what was up. His neighbor let the children out back to play, and one of them was jabbing a stick at the dog through the chain-linked fence. Kid stopped after my dad intervened. Later on that day, my Dad took the dog on his daily walk. Walking out front, a kid from his neighbor’s house was walking to his parents car. Guess which one... Dog recognizes him, runs up to him and knocks the kid on his as*. My Dad’s replies, “He remembers you.” Lol.
As a kid I had a female Spaniel name Lulu. She was extremely intelligent dog. Like she understood when you spoke to her. My grandma's brother was a professional hunter and this dog was an award winning tracker.
She was raised with me and we had a bond.
One time, I made my grandma very angry, the dog wouldn't let me touch her for 3 days, until I apologized to my grandma in front of the dog.
Damn dog peer pressured me into an unconditional surrender.
I miss her so much.
My dog knows how to get the windows to go down in the car so she can stick her head out but she only does it when we're taking her somewhere exciting, somehow she always knows the difference even if it's a similar route/similar time.
I once saw my dog make a poop joke. He walked into our living room and stood in front of our older dog. Then he kicked his legs back like he had just finished taking a dump towards the older dog and looked around the room with a look that I swear was smug and self satisfied.
Went batshit crazy on us one night alerting us that our deck outside was on fire. We had grilled earlier in the evening and a storm was coming in. The wind picked up and blew some ash into a crevice in our deck from the grill... over time the wind kept fueling it and it was full on burning when she woke us.
My little one is the smartest dog I have ever had by a huge margin.
Here are some examples. He learned the full course and what to do at each obstacle after one go around a agility circuit. After been shown it once.
Last summer, we were without a car for a couple of months and I would walk to work and back. My wife would take him on his afternoon walk down a little country lane to meet me on my way home and we would walk home together. We never use this lane and haven't since. The other week my car broke down, so I left it at home and walked. Wife went to take him for his afternoon walk. He stopped on seeing the car there and then insisted he was taken down the lane that he was taken down a year before to meet me when I walk.
We stopped counting the number of words he knows when he got to a hundred. He also knows different words for the same thing in different languages.
I had just poured some fresh water for my cat, Quincy. There was a piece of debris floating around in the water. He took his wee paw and fished it out then continued drinking water, debris free. I got it on video and I cackle Everytime I watch it. The most cutest thing I’ve ever seen. He is a king, he doesn’t want tainted water.
Lol!! My cat puts his paw around the food bowl while my other cat is eating, and steals the bowl from her! He always ends up eating more than her…. it leads to an ultimate smack battle. Luna (the female) always gets enough to eat though, we make sure of it!
If my dog feels like she's been deprived of attention or treats, she'll pretend to be hurt and limp around. But she can't be too intelligent because sometimes she'll forget which foot is hurt.
My beagle knows really well what he is and isn't allowed to do, but he also knows that the scolding wont come until he gets caught.
He is awfully smart so he taught himself to bring us his plate when he is feeling hungry, same with water if he ran out and we didn't notice (He has set meals but he self regulates really well so sometimes we feed him a little earlier or later on his insistance), he opens and closes doors windows and fridge, pretty much its like living with a thumbless toddler. But his most impressive stunt was this one:
He used to go for the trash bin to steal food scraps (which is inside a cabinet that he knows how to open) but we always got to him on time, so he came up with a plan. He asked for food around his meal time by bringing us his plate, so that he was sure we were going to get it for him since it was his time to eat anyways. Doggy food gets stored in the back of the house, two rooms away from the trash bin. He would wait near the trash watching you until you went to pick him his food and then open the cabinet and dive straight inside the trash.
He did it twice until we figured out it was intentional and got baby locks for everything.
My parent's had a Border Terrier that was fairly clever, but one of thw weirdest things he did was he knew that doing a poo in the kitchen was bad, (it happened sometimes when we were out) and always attempted to cover up the evidence with his food bowl. We would come back sometimes and see his food bowl upside down and know exactly what was under there.
I currently have a pair of cats and I am convinced they understand me to an extent. I'll tell them to "Not forget to eat their food" and they will go to their bowl to eat it, as if I've just reminded them of its existence. One of them the other day was trying to open the curtains by pawing at them vertically to get on the window ledge and I motioned with my hand how to do it, instead of the way she was currently doing it. She immediately copied me and nearly opened them, she now knew the correct method but just lacked the strength to do it.
When my dog was out of water he'd grab a bottle of water from the kitchen, bite a small hole, and then press down with his paw and drink the water that was coming out.
I was accusing my husband of leaving half empty bottles of water all over the house and he was always blaming me. We finally caught the dog doing it, praised him for being so smart and bought a bigger dog bowl.
*Note-we no longer buy bottled water and we are very good about not letting the dogs run out of water.
There is a big park in my town with lots of tiny intertwining trails. I parked along the side to walk my dog for a while and after running into a few sketchy people along the way we ended up taking some trails that we were unfamiliar with to avoid them. I was walking back toward the car but couldn’t find the exact spot we had parked. I was about to turn around to walk the other way since I was sure we had passed it when my dog took off running in the direction we had been walking. She is very good off leash and never leaves my side, she didn’t come back even when I called which she has never done before and I got quite worried. Went in the direction after her to find her maybe 100 ft away sitting next to the car and looking very proud of herself. Well done pup!
My mom loves to tell us about her childhood dog who without fail would walk them to the bus stop every morning and then would meet them back at the bus stop when school was done
My parents used to have chickens, one chicken figured out she could dig under the fence to get into the garden and eat all of the tomatoes.
We've always had chickens freely roaming around the house, and it seems there always has to be one smarter than the others in the band. Chickens usually have routines, and going to bed early in some locked place where they are safe from night predators (like foxes or weasels) is certainly one of the most important ones. So one of these smart hens had figured out how to tell us when they wanted to go to bed, especially in summer when days are long and we lose count of the hours in the evening. When she noticed we were in the house doing our stuff and not paying attention to them, that hen would jump onto the window sill and knock on the window with her beak until we get out and take them to their place.
My old collie cross always had an obession with stones. They chipped her teeth so badly, but she just loved them. We tried really hard to make her stop playing with them so we asked her to drop it before she came into the house from the garden. She had to be asked for a few days then she started doing it all by herself. We were so proud of how smart she was! However, we kept realising that she had stones in the house again and we had no clue how she got them into the house, then we figured it out. She put the stone through the cat flap, came in through the door without a stone, and then would go pick it up from the cat flap door! Unfortunately she passed away in June, but I'll always remember how smart and amazing she was
We had a dog we named Roxies she did this she was a jack Russell she would play with big rocks like sticks and carry them around. Sometimes they where to big and if she didn't watch it she would top over and it funny and cute she would also ride with my on my dirt bike. I did it once. I didn't think ever really like it after that she would get mad at me if I didn't take her with me on it. She was the coolest dog! She aways went and checked on everyone. And she would sometimes sleep sleep on me like a baby with her tummy up. I loved her very much. She passed away in 2006 she was hit by a forewheeler. We all cryed.
A couple of weeks ago, my tomcat started (uncharacteristically) clawing the upholstery on the sofa. I yelled at him to stop, which sent him running to hide. I realized it could be a teachable moment, so I called to him gently and when he came back into the open I demonstrated scratching on the cats' scratch pad. He watched me, then ran over to the pad and started scratching on it himself. (Of course I responded to that with lots of petting and "good boy!" compliments.) It's the first time I recall an attempt at training having such a clear and immediate effect on one of my cats.
Huh. I've always just done that out of habit (and seeing my parents do it with all of our cats while growing up, I suppose). We actually went a step further, gently carried them over to the scratching post, put their paws on it and said "good kitty, very good kitty" while they gave us an exasperated look.... they knew they weren't supposed to scratch on the rug, but they also knew they were usually too fast for us to catch them. We started to experiment with different textured scratching posts (then later covered them with catnip), until we found something more appealing than the rug. A burlap/rope-like texture was a favorite.
She lived. She brought so much joy and love to my life. She was my best friend, my protector, my light in the darkest of times. She was funny and dopey, she was THE most beautiful girl that ever was. I lost her yesterday. Thank you Heidi from the bottom of my heart ♥️ the pleasure was all mine my princess. I will love you forever xxx (I am aware this is about the smartest thing she ever did but I want the world to know just how special she will always be)
Even just loving us shows intelligence. Lots of people will claim that cats and dogs are simply responding to us out of a survival instinct, but look at all of the other animals people take care of that don't respond with any significant emotional response. Even people who dedicate their life to reptiles (not to mention things like arachnids) acknowledge that the "emotional bond" just isn't there like it is in cats and dogs. Cats and dogs (along with certain other pets) have developed enough that they can relate to us and, in their own way, empathize with us. The simple fact that they can relate and interact with us on our level shows a remarkable amount of intelligence for an animal that doesn't naturally display emotion in the same ways we do.
My dog "can spell". Now I'm sure he's just memorized the grouping of spelled letter as it's own phrase, but it's still adorable.
What I mean by this... we can't say certain words/phrases like "dog park" because he knows what that means and he will freak out if we don't immediately leave for the dog park after saying dog park. So we started to spell things out like D-O-G-P-A-R-K or W-A-L-K... well we should've come up with a few other names to call it to rotate between, because he now knows what those spellings mean too
For Christmas I bought my Labrador a Kong football made of tennis ball material (Air Kong). I wrapped everyone's presents and put them under the tree. As soon as I placed all of the presents under tree, she confidently walked up to the tree, went directly to her toy, carefully unwrapped it with her paw and teeth, and walked off with the Kong. I was impressed with how precise she was.
I guess she had acknowledged the smell of that toy before you wrapped it, so it was easy for her to tell which one it was.
My dog Miles kept going into the bathroom, sitting by the toilet and whining at me. I couldn't figure out why until the other dog hopped up and started drinking from the toilet. I realized that their water bowl was empty. Miles used every single one of his brain cells that day.
I have 2 dogs, but one is specially clever.
When her sister is playing with a toy she wants, she starts distracting her, throwing other toys and calling her to play, just as the other one stops paying attention to the toy she runs over and gets it.
Also she was able to learn every single trick I tried to teach her. She responds to hand gestures and commands, and some commands in different languages.
She knows when it's time to eat. She starts barking at me and pointing in the direction of the food every single day at the same hour.
She memorizes places where I store stuff she likes so later she can try to get (and sometimes she does get them).
There are some key words (going for a walk) that she goes crazy, so my SO and I are trying to develop methods to plan our day (which includes saying "going for a walk with the dogs") so that she wouldn't be able to understand what we are saying. I swear to you, she understood when we were spelling the word "walk".
Besides being very intelligent, she also is very protective of her sister, who has a crippling fear of fireworks and thunder. Whenever one of those goes off she starts barking in it's direction and starts growling at it. And I'm pretty sure it is to protect her sister, because she never did this before her sister came to live with us.
Before we got our second dog, we would pour Gatsby (our oldest dog) all of his food for the day in the morning before we left for work.
When he hit a certain age, he started eating EXACTLY HALF-as in drawing a perfectly straight line- of his food before noon, and the other half at 6 PM.
As I’m saying it, I realize it sounds not at all very intelligent, but we would say he “knew fractions”
I suppose this is akin to a parent insisting their kid is a “genius” for simply hitting developmental milestones lol
It may be dark but we have a rat and mice problem. So we lay out poison and try to kill as many rodents as possible. Once we find a dead one we toss it over the dog fence so our three dogs can't eat the dead mice and get sick. One day I saw my dog with a dead mouse in her mouth and she bought it up to the fence and started trying to push it to the other side with her nose. She had seen us getting rid of the rats and tried to do the same.
Depending on the type(s) of dogs you have, you might actually have better results just letting the dogs hunt the mice/rats. Quite a few breeds were created specifically to hunt small pest animals and will have a natural talent for it. With a little encouragement from you, they might work better than the poison you're using, plus you won't have to worry about "what if's" if your dogs get ahold of them. If you teach your dogs that they'll get a treat and praise each time they bring you a dead rat, you might not have a rat problem anymore.
We sit our dogs down before we cross the road when we walk them. We started saying “okay and look both ways first”. And they did. I don’t think they know what they’re looking for, but they do look both ways before walking out onto the street.
They probably know. One of my dogs will stop at every intersection, makes sure the road is clear looking both ways and then grabbing the leash in his mouth and walking me across the street. He has some service dog training.
I used to have two dogs, a smart miniature dachshund and a dumb cocker spaniel. One time I was out on the deck and threw each of them a bone. The cocker spaniel grabbed hers and set to gnawing. The dachshund took his out in the yard and hid it and came back, eyeballing the cocker spaniel's bone.
So the dachshund came over to where I was sitting and put his front paws up on the chair so I could pet him. The cocker spaniel saw this, dropped the bone and came over to do the same.
The dachshund didn't hesitate. He ran over, grabbed the cocker spaniel's bone, and ran off.
We'd gotten a kitten, and it was not a fan of my brother.
To be fair, my brother's first reaction is always loud. Big steps, big "oooh" when seeing the cat for the first time; she was a timid kitten so she kept away.
Even when he moved, if he was coming for a visit she'd be out of sight about 30 seconds before he rang the door.
He wanted to get the cat to not fear him, so he bought a tunnel toy for her. He figured, the cat will smell him on it and be less afraid. Sadly, nothing came of it. She seemed interested, only a little, but wouldn't do more than peek around the door.
He was there for a bit, no cat in sight besides a peek now and then around dinner time, but my brother accepted there was not going to be a cat sighting that evening and left.
As soon as the door closed behind him when he left, the kitten came tearing through the kitchen and into the living room, through the tunnel and wound up ripping the dangly toy off in her first run.
So she just really doesn't like my brother.
He's interacting with her the way you would interact with a dog - very direct and "friendly", which cats perceive as aggressive. If he's quiet, keeps his distance, speaks softly, offers a treat (a small piece of cooked chicken [without anything on it] is ideal) and slowly blinks his eyes at her, all of those actions tell her that he's not a threat. It's not your brother, it's his behavior. Once he's established a little trust, he can build on that. Jackson Galaxy actually offers some good tips too... a few of his videos initially come off as a little "click-bait-ish" but he gives some good insights into how cats interpret human behavior.
He figured out how to use a catnip shaker. One evening, he stole it from the pantry, and I found him rolling in a mess of catnip while batting the shaker hard. He really is a catnip junkie, lol
My other one figured out that the windows near the back door are incredibly creaky, so if she wants to be let in, she bangs on those. She taught the catnip junkie this principle as well.
We had a dog that would steal food off the counter when nobody was watching, but would never take the last piece. Pizza? All but the last slice. Cookies? All but one. Sandwich cut in halves? Only one half.
We never knew if he did this out or courtesy or Machiavellian manipulation ("hey, it couldn't have been the dog, or they've had eaten it all!")
We always leave the key in our back door, we have a tiny monkey stuffed teddy with a couple of bells around the neck as a keychain.
When our dog wants to go out he sits by the back door, at first he could be sat there for ages if people was upstairs or in the front room unaware the dog wanted to go out.
He learnt the if he kept hitting the monkey with his nose the bells would ring and people around the house would hear it and investigate looking for the source of the noise and in the process let the dog out.
Took us about a month to firgue out it was just the dog hitting the monkey to be let out. Only cause I literally saw him do it
My dog as a puppy picked up on the fact that when we have guests over, that we walk them out so when his dog friends come over and he’s ready for them to leave, he will take them to the door/yard gate
We have a cat who learned to wash his paws in the sink after using the litter. One day he was in the bathroom yowling and I went in to turn the tap on so he can drink. He does this a lot, even though he has a pet fountain. Think he just enjoys having the hoomans do his bidding. Anyway this time he runs his paws under the water and hops off. He was dusty so he'd just been in the box. Eventually we just left a small amount of water in the bowl and drain and clean it a couple times a day to keep him happy.
its amazing to me that my dog can be in a deep sleep and if i ask him if he wants to go outside he will jump up and walk to the door. The fact that another species can understand english like that is crazy.
Also he will play with me a little rough but he will be incredibly gentle with my kids. He knows they are little and he watches out for them. We didn't teach him that, he just seems to instinctively know. You see videos of dogs with babies online and they seem to the baby's protector.
I love dogs. But, whilst it's very tempting to leave Fido with the baby, it could easily end in tears. Please make sure you supervise your dog around children. Just because a dog has never bitten anyone or shown aggressive behaviour in the past, doesn't mean that he never will. All it takes is a second. Please be careful Pandas. Don't put your dog, or your child, in that position.
My cat is polydactyl (has extra toes on all 4 paws) & is half Siamese.
Last year I found out she’d figured out how to turn on the radio part of my alarm clock. She would turn it on when I left for work, & turn it off again before I came home. I came home early one day & caught her in the act.
She also knows how to unscrew jar lids. And is addicted to the color red. One year my roommate bought 4 red ornaments for our tree. My cat climbed the tree, stole ONLY the red ornaments & left them in my bed.
Her sister (same litter) once stole a plugged in glue gun. She unplugged it, carried it down the stairs, and through 2 other rooms to hide it under the couch. Without getting glue on anything including herself, & without being caught til the roommate went back to use the glue gun & found it missing.
My little man learned to bring his toy to the laundry. Not just the laundry room either. He carries his favorite toy (a lavender bunny that was mine as a child and he has become super attached to, and places it into the washing machine. My smart, smart boy!
I’ve been trying to teach my bird manners and one time about a week ago she sneezed and I said bless you and she said thank you back.
My cat knows how doorknobs work. I've seen him trying to turn them with his paws (thank goodness he has no thumbs).
When he was a kitten, he figured out how computers work. He started to bat at the screen when he saw stuff moving. But then he paused. He looked behind the screen for a moment. Then he looked down at my hands. Then he started to bat at the keyboard while staring at the screen.
My dogs respond to specific commercial jingles and go nuts over them, but they hate Andy Cohen (host/creator/producer of most Bravo shows). They’ve gotten to the point where they know when he does his commercial for his talk show (41 minute mark of 1 hour of a prime time Bravo show) and they legit wait. If we fast forward through it and don’t hit play at the right moment, they see him and freak out
Our Havanese does lots of pretty intelligent things. The one that surprised me most was that she recognized the Life360 alert meant my daughter is coming home. As soon as she hears the alert, she goes over to the door and waits excitedly for my daughter to come through the door. The alert happens a minute or so before anyone shows up at the house, so she has definitely associated that alert with people coming home.
I have 2 rat terriers that do the same for Life360! They haven't learned the difference between the "leaving" sound and the "arriving" sound, which can lead to some disappointment lol.
My cat randomly started peeing in the toilet one day and has never stopped. She was 10 years old when she started doing it.
I was doing a project on butterfly’s in elementary school. My mom, siblings and I spent the better part of an afternoon trying to catch one so I could photograph it and release it. Finally got one and as I was sitting on the couch gathering supplies to finish the project my cat (who was outside watching us the whole time) walked up to me, meowed and spit out a butterfly at my feet. I’ll never forget it! He was never the hunting type either. Never left us dead presents or anything so we were all shocked. The only other time he did this was many years later when we got another cat who was hunting all the time and punks got jealous and caught a LIVE mouse and delivered it to us fully in tact while we were eating dinner. Mouse ran outside, punks got pets and treats and everyone lived.
Had a cat who was generally dumb as a rock (I once saw him walk head-first into a wall) except when he caught sight of a moth, then he turned into a mean lean killing machine. Except moths tend to fly, and cats can only jump so high. So when bothered by a pesky moth I would hold him up to the ceiling until he batted it to the floor, then set him down so he could finish the poor thing off and eat it.
My bird can reach about 2 inches outside his cage with his beak. About 5 inches with his feet. He enjoys grabbing food with one foot stretched as far as he can get it out.
My dad goes to feed him one day, and the bird takes a step away from the bars, and then reaches as hard as he can with his leg. My dad doesn't realize the bird has just baited him into entering the exclusion zone around the cage.
The bird faked not being able to reach with his feet so he could bite my dad's finger.
My chinchilla once had one of those "ball" things that are basically just a bunch of dowels with holes drilled held together with smaller dowels into sort of a ball shape. If that makes sense? Anyways rather than chewing it up like a normal rodent he pulled out all the little dowels holding it together and reduced the whole thing to a pile of sticks without actually chewing through any of it. This is the same animal who constantly wants to stick his face right in the vacuum cleaner while it's turned on.
My cat said hello to me one time. It was incredibly cute. Also, I feel like cats have a specific language and every time we meow back, we say something completely random. One time I meowed at him, and I guess I said something a tad bit rude, cause he hid under the bed and glared at me.
My cats definitely would try to communicate! Say hello to you when they walked in the room. They would respond to their names. And would go for walks with me down our road. They'd get distracted by things ofc....but once I started walking again they'd catch right up to me!
So my cat isn't allowed in my bedroom at night. Usually he's patient about it. He'll be at the door when I open it, but he doesn't yowl or anything, even when I sleep late. But every once in awhile, he won't be patient. He'll paw at the door before my alarm goes off. It took me awhile to realize that the days he did this were the days that I found a hairball somewhere around the house.
Basically he wakes me up to tell me he made a mess.
Poos in the woods so we don't have to pick it up...might not be the most intelligent but it is my favor and that counts for something.
Once I had an unpeeled banana, in a closed lunchbox, in my zipped up backpack, on a couch. Left the room thinking I'd put it in the kitchen in a few minutes. My corgi somehow knew the banana was there, unzipped the backpack, removed the lunchbox, opened the lunchbox, grabbed, unpeeled, and devoured the banana, all without ripping or breaking anything else. Everything was neatly opened and left on the floor when I came back to the room.
This isn't exactly intelligent, but my cat will know when I'm in the bathroom or another room and he waits for me to get out so he can attack and scare me. I think it's really cute and it usually works. He knows exactly where to hide/wait and when to jump out. It's pretty basic but it makes me smile every time.
Awwww! My cats would get mad if I was in the bathroom and they would try so hard to get in. Everytime. I had to start letting them come in with me.
When my kids were little we had a beagle, probably the best, sweetest, funniest dog we ever had.
One time my daughter was sitting on the couch eating a sandwich, and the beagle was sitting by her eyeballing that sandwich pretty hard. The the dog jumped off the couch, ran over to her water dish and tipped it with one paw, spilling water all over. My daughter jumped up and scolded her, sat the sandwich down and went to get a towel. With zero hesitation, beagle raced to the sandwich, snapped it up and raced away, scheme successful. We were all laughing way to hard to be mad.
I my dogs one of those wooden treat puzzles. My smart dog figured it out quickly. My street smart dog just waited for the smart dog to push the treats out then ate them before she could get to them.
My fluffy tiny dog would wait round the corner watching the garden completely tensed up. A squirrel would come in and he'd start shaking in anticipation. The second they were on top of the bird table, he'd be off like a shot trying to catch them because of that momentary hesitation when they'd have to jump down to get out.
He was a smart dog with all the brains, tools and hunting instincts but he was too small and slow. Never caught one.
Now he's an old boy who prefers long comfy naps rather than the thrill of the hunt. A squirrel could come right up to him now and he'd barely open his eyes.
Yup - our elderly dogs have learned to peacefully coexist with nearly everything they chased as young lads.
I have a 2 year old golden doodle. I was babysitting my parents’ shih tzu, and had a bowl of his kibble set out all the time, since he’s twelve and refuses to eat on any sort of schedule. All week, my dog never touched the strange kibble; very unusual for her to leave unattended food alone. The week goes by and the shih tzu goes back to his home, and leaves a single half eaten bowl of his food behind. Immediately, my dog searches the house and eats the food. I think she knew that it was his food, but as soon as he was out of the equation, it was snack time!
My aunt's dog "babysits" when we bring our baby over. Rocky sits next to Baby the whole time we're there. He nuzzles Baby if he cries and takes grass out of Baby's hands if he's going to eat it.
My dog, on the other hand, barks at the door if a doorbell rings on the television. We don't have a doorbell.
One time when I was little one of my baby teeth fell out and I went looking for it. My cat then led me to it, and a £1 reward
My dog understands "No toys outside". If she's running to the back door to go out with a toy in her mouth she'll drop it before she gets there. When she was a puppy and we threw balls into the yard for her they never came back in, so, no toys are allowed outside. I don't even have to say it anymore.
Also, she can wink with both eyes. It takes a bit of prompting, but she will wink at me with either eye as directed.
My border collie wanted a bone that my other dog was chewing on, so she went over to the window and started barking. Sure enough the other one got up to investigate and the border collie went right back and took the bone. I was like no shit, clever girl.
Couple months later the other dog had a toy the BC wanted, pulled the same damn stunt and it worked again.
She's too smart for her own good.
When I was either 16 or 17, I had a golden named Biscuit. When Biscuit goes to the bathroom (outside) she'll get a dog treat when she comes back in. One day, my mom took her out, she came back in, ran over to me and my dad acting as if she needed a biscuit (her treat) and when my dad asked if she went, my mom said no, she didn't. THE LOOK BISCUIT GAVE MY MOTHER, MY DAD AND I WERE CRYING FROM LAUGHING! It was a look of pure betrayal. She got two biscuits just for making us laugh so hard.
My cat sits like a human being and I think that’s rad
Kind of intelligent, but more so skilled. My dog (10 month old puppy) loves chewing up my mom’s sandals, so she has hidden them where he can’t find them. She was on her phone outside one day. While she was looking at her phone, he slowly inches up and snatched the sandal, running away as fast as he could away from her with it. Never once has my family been so frustrated with him, yet so proud of him at the same time lol
our cat loves my brother. one day my brother got really angry with me and started s**ttalking about me in his room in front of our cat. suddenly, our cat just left his room, gracefully walked to my room’s door...and planted a HUGE S**T as a gift for me
My kitten Mous used a straw as a lance to attack things. He found a 10 inch straw that had a safety pin at the end that he could grip. Kind of like this, I------. He would crouch behind the safety pin end and use that as a grip to pick it up so the straw was extended in front of him like a lance. Then he would run with it and stab things with the lance. His best shot was when he ran across the room, lance extended, jump up and stabbed a plant off a plant stand. His worst was when he tried to stab his mother, Esme, She was not amused and let him know that attempted matricide was not acceptable.
Today my cat sat under a chair with holes to shelter from the rain, even though there was a dry place to sit nearby. I don't think I can give an answer on this question.
Intelligent and stupid at the same time. When we were renting a house a few months ago there were double doors that had a handle but it didn't turn or anything you just pushed or pulled the door. My dog figured this out and started letting himself into the room, and closing the door behind him. But he soon realized simply pushing the door didn't open if from the inside so he decided to go the other other side of the room, take a running start and slam his head into the door and it bounced back and opened for him.
He did that many many times until we moved out.
Our cat came back home after 6 weeks. Alerted the shelter and vet. No sign. Thought she was a goner. Be hold, my husband in the back if he house and said “Natalie’s back!” Took me a moment. I was like “Natalie? Our cat, Natalie?” She was hungry but otherwise ok.
My Boston Terrier had a full blown argument with my Dad over who pooped on the floor.
We knew she did it, but when Dad told her to her face "I know you pooped!" she started shaking her head and making a stinky face (scrunched up nose, teeth showing). After about three times of my Dad repeating "I know you pooped!" She made a sad growl and belly crawled over and licked his shoe. He said he forgave her and she got all happy and jumped around.
And then jumped right into her own poop.
I used to live in a townhouse, and we had one of those storage unit things that's a bunch of empty squares, and we used it to store all of our classic gaming consoles. It was all hooked up to a TV on top in a way where you could easily switch the input plugs for whatever system you wanted to play. It was a whole mess of cords back there, so we kept the cat away from it.
I bought her this crinkly tube thing to play in. She started slowly moving it across the hardwood floor. She positioned it in front of the storage unit, and used that to "sneak" into one of the cubes and get behind it. She was back there for a good 15 minutes or so before I heard her bell jingling around behind it. She was so startled when she saw me looking at her, that she almost pulled an N64 down on her head. Which is the exact reason why I didn't want her back there. But cats can't be reasoned with.
My wifes cat has figured out how to turn on the water in the bathroom sink, two handles, one for hot and one for cold. Pisses me off because the waters left running all night sometimes.
My neighbor has a Border Collie named Jackson. I keep dog toys in the back of my car to make friends with the neighbors pups. I pulled out a stuffed toy that looked like a real squirrel. He took it, then dropped it. I thought he didn't like it. His owner said "Toss it up in the air." I did, he caught it...gave it a good shake and put it at my feet, staring at it..wanting me to toss it again. I ran into his other owner the next day and explained who I was. He said "OMG! He brought that to me about 40 times last night. I was trying to work so I finally had to hide it. He found it anyway." Guess the toy was a hit!!
My husband just finished a 6 month stint of nightshifts in our home office - he used to walk the dogs every morning at 5am before he went to sleep. Now any time he turns his headphones off and the dogs hear the beep they perk up and get ready.
When my little Boston terrier was young and chewed up everything, he opened my boyfriend's backpack, took out a folder, opened the folder, and obliterated all the paper that was inside of it. But he left the folder completely intact. Also he got ahold of a closed can of tennis balls and got the lid off to eat the tennis balls inside it.
Another dog I used to have was a fluffy little golden blonde mutt, and when I was looking for her one time to give her a bath I just could not find her anywhere. I searched for about twenty minutes, calling her name and everything. I finally spotted her curled up on the top of a small couch in my brother's room, and the couch was the same color as her. She camouflaged herself to hide.
Figured out he could get my attention by chewing through the controller cable on my N64. And only ever the controllers - he never mucked with the power cables.
That rabbit was too clever for my own good.
My dog is bilingual. He lives in a household where we all speak Spanish and English. People outside of the home find this fascinating, but for us, it's normal to say just about anything in two different languages and he completely understands. We've noticed that if we talk about taking him to the vet in Spanish then he tenses up and slowly backs away from the room.
We have also tried talking about going to the vet in English (using different code words/sentences), and he looks at us as if he knows we are plotting something.
My dog as figured out that she can open up the gates we have set around the house to keep her out of vets in areas.
But the kicker is she was smart enough to realize to close the gates also to cover her tracks
When my son was born, my dog wanted nothing to do with him whatsoever. He was completely jealous and avoided him at all costs. When my son was 3 weeks old a neighbor was holding him and her son waved his hand at a mosquito that was hovering around his face and my dog went full bezerk defending the baby. I wouldn't say it was the most intelligent but it was a very heart warming moment.
Used to live on a caravan resort-site during summer and would bring my dogs along. It had a veranda which was attached onto the caravan, and when we were home we'd let the dogs outside onto it. One time, upon coming back from an afternoon out we found the caravan door open and no sign of one of the dogs, a Labradoodle named Angel. My mum, who was at home, didn't see or hear a thing from her bedroom. Angel found her way back after we received a phone call from someone saying they'd seen her.
This happened another time but we once again couldn't tell what happened.
Eventually, on the day of the third incident, I was home alone with the dogs one day and they were all asleep, apart from Angel. She got up off my lap and jumped onto the floor as I was playing games on my laptop, and I watched her walk to the door, jump up, push down on the handle and push the door open. She then cleared the veranda in a single, standing attempt and urinated on our patch of grass outside. Pretty sure she planned on running off like she did the times before, but I bribed her with treats. Needless to say, we had to get a nice bed for her so that she stopped going exploring while we weren't home.
We have an indoor/outdoor cat that would use her cat scratcher properly but would randomly scratch on 2 pieces of furniture, we would yell at her and our 12# aussiedoodle eventually learned to run to her and make her stop and we rarely we have scold her because the dog takes care of it the second she starts. We eventually learned that was the cats way of letting us know she needed food or wanted to go outside. It was just her way of letting us know she needed something.
If she wants to sit where you are sitting, she will sit close by and just stare at you, the second you move, she takes your seat.
If she wants inside, she will scratch the window screens, not bad, just enough to get my attention. She will figure out where I am in the house and use the appropriate window. One room in the house she has to use the back door and paws at it as hard & fast as she can to get my attention.
I had a very old cat that knew how to operate door handles. Yes, there were Jurassic Park references made
My leopard gecko can recognize her reflection, and she's learned to eat straight from the feeding tongs.
Not sure if it was smart and helpful or just being a crazy pup, but my dog did actually once eat my homework
It's not too crazy or anything, but my dogs all run outside through the dog door if one of them will bark at the sliding glass door to the backyard. If one of the dogs is chewing on a bone she wants, she simply struts over to the door, starts barking, he runs off outside barking his brains out, and she proceeds to take the bone.
We've had my dog for about 3 years, and roughly a year ago, he learned how to roll down the window to stick his head out. He uses his paw to push down on the button on long car rides. I think it's so cute, but it's inconvenient when it's cold outside. When he wants it rolled up, he'll just stare at you until the window gets rolled up.
I owe my life to our old farm dog Katie. I was 11 at the time and living on the east coast after years in the Arctic circle where I was born. My siblings and I had built the ultimate snow igloo and it was time to go inside and warm up... I wanted to hang out in the sparkle palace and keep working so I stayed outside. Not long after the entire structure collapsed on me. Buried under four feet of snow and laying on my back I was unable to get out. It was getting so hard to breathe... I was trying to call out but was suffocating under the weight. No one was there to hear me and the farm house was pretty far away. All of a sudden I heard barking... getting louder!!! As she got closer I knew I was going to be okay. She dug down to my face so I could breathe and then barked until my parents ran to where I was. Love you forever Katie Mae.
My sister had a German Shepherd named Heidi. She was a year old when my son was born and I think she thought he was her pup. I went to my mom's house because she was babysitting for me and pet sitting for my sister. As soon as I walk in she said.."Wait. Watch." I hear a squeal and see my son running out of the hallway, Heidi on his heels. She touched him with her nose, he shouted, Heidi turned around and ran down the hall with my son on her heels. My son touched her, she barked, and they turned around to do it all over again. Darned if the two of them didn't figure out how to play tag together. My mother said "They've been at it for an hour already."
Amazing what they can think up. My cat made up playing hide and seek. I called it Where's That Tigger?
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My favourite story was when I told my late cat Vanessa 'don't walk in the kitchen I just mopped' and she backed out of the kitchen the moment I said that. She was so smart, I miss her every day.
Perhaps you’ve said another warning earlier like “don’t eat that or you’ll get sick” and the cat remembered the tone of your voice and the negative consequences?
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My pitbull mastered the litterbox in one day. He was a puppy at the time, and we thought litterbox training was safer since where we live has raccoons and snakes. My dad had bought a little litter box and some litter. He sat it down with newspaper underneath it and my dog just climbed inside and went without help. We thought it was just a fluke but he had to go he would climb it each time. He's eight now and becomes a diva when we don't have litter he likes.
We let our dogs out by a leash to have fun/use the bathroom in the backyard. A couple years ago, me and my english mastiff were playing. He gently grabs my arm because I had a sleeve on (he wouldn’t unless something protected my arm, albeit a sleeve or curtain) and pulled me towards the backdoor because he had to go. He’s pretty lazy and I gotta say, that was the smartest thing i’ve ever seen him do.
And it’s really sweet. He’a very calm for a big dog. I could put my bare arm near him, no reaction. But if I had a sleeve on? (Sometimes we played with my curtains because they sucked and I was about to exchange them anyways) boom, it was PLAYTIME!
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My family once had a cat who figured out how to unzip zippers and open screen doors. His name was Figaro and he was a very smart kitty. :)
I had a goldfish that got a rock stuck in its mouth. It started swimming into the side of the tank to get my attention. I started hearing faint tapping sound from the rock against the glass. I managed to get the rock from its mouth. It was so weird.
One time, during Quarantine, we were having church on zoom and when my pastor was praying my cat CLOSED HIS EYES AND LOOKED DOWN LIKE HE WAS PRAYING
Shortly after we moved to our house my husband had to go to a course out of town and I was home alone with the huskyx and our older mastiffx. Our huskyx likes looking out the window and barking at random things, so this one night I thought that's what he was doing, until he started running to me and running back to the window. I got up to look outside and saw that our neighbor's shed was fully engulfed in flames, and the house beside them was also on fire. I quickly called 911 and got the fire department out there just as the fire spread to the back of the the neighbors house. Turns out my huskyx probably saved their lives, as their smoke alarms weren't working and the batteries hadn't been changed in years.
Growing up we adopted a Border Collie as a companion to our senior mutt. She kept him on his toes a would often hide his toys and food. Once I watched her push his food bowl into the corner, pull a bunch of fake flowers out of a pot. Place them on top the food and use her paw to push them down into place! She also would careful steal his bones from under his sleeping paws and bury them in the couch cushions, then move the pillows to cover them.
My golden retriever knew SO MANY WORDS. But the funniest thing that ever happened we didn't even teach him. My mother threw a piece of popcorn on the ground for him and it bounced in a weird way so he didn't know where it went. After he searched for a few seconds I said "To your left Tucker" and he immediately turned left and found it. We laughed for a looong time. Also, one of my cats used to be able to knock on the bedroom door in my apartment when he wanted in. He would tap his paw on the doorknob a few times and it sounded EXACTLY like a person knocking. It scared me and my husband the first few times it happened when we weren't dressed for company.
If our cats jump on the counters in the kitchen, they get put outside. So now they stay off the counters, unless we’re not listening to them ask to go outside. I’m having to put them outside in the most uncomfortable manner possible so it’s still a negative consequence. Our dog, on the other hand, may be too smart for his own good. I had him over at a friend’s house for a dog play date yesterday while I visited, and then someone opened the gate to take the trash out and he took that as an invitation to go home. About half a mile away, through a park and busy traffic. We had four people out looking for him, and I ended up jogging home to find him on our doorstep looking very pleased with himself. But then I had to jog back across the park to get my stuff before getting a ride home. While on the one hand I’m glad he knows to go home if he can’t find me, I do wish he would have at least tried looking around first. Apparently he didn’t even stop, just sprinted the whole way. Thanks, dog.
1 of my 2 cats is very smart. Lots of things she does. I got them a toy that has a ball they are meant to hit, it hits a lever and a treat drops. My girl Morgana, pulled the ball out and sticks her paw in the toy, hits the lever and gets the treats.
I owe my life to our old farm dog Katie. I was 11 at the time and living on the east coast after years in the Arctic circle where I was born. My siblings and I had built the ultimate snow igloo and it was time to go inside and warm up... I wanted to hang out in the sparkle palace and keep working so I stayed outside. Not long after the entire structure collapsed on me. Buried under four feet of snow and laying on my back I was unable to get out. It was getting so hard to breathe... I was trying to call out but was suffocating under the weight. No one was there to hear me and the farm house was pretty far away. All of a sudden I heard barking... getting louder!!! As she got closer I knew I was going to be okay. She dug down to my face so I could breathe and then barked until my parents ran to where I was. Love you forever Katie Mae.
My sister had a German Shepherd named Heidi. She was a year old when my son was born and I think she thought he was her pup. I went to my mom's house because she was babysitting for me and pet sitting for my sister. As soon as I walk in she said.."Wait. Watch." I hear a squeal and see my son running out of the hallway, Heidi on his heels. She touched him with her nose, he shouted, Heidi turned around and ran down the hall with my son on her heels. My son touched her, she barked, and they turned around to do it all over again. Darned if the two of them didn't figure out how to play tag together. My mother said "They've been at it for an hour already."
Amazing what they can think up. My cat made up playing hide and seek. I called it Where's That Tigger?
Load More Replies... My favourite story was when I told my late cat Vanessa 'don't walk in the kitchen I just mopped' and she backed out of the kitchen the moment I said that. She was so smart, I miss her every day.
Perhaps you’ve said another warning earlier like “don’t eat that or you’ll get sick” and the cat remembered the tone of your voice and the negative consequences?
Load More Replies... My pitbull mastered the litterbox in one day. He was a puppy at the time, and we thought litterbox training was safer since where we live has raccoons and snakes. My dad had bought a little litter box and some litter. He sat it down with newspaper underneath it and my dog just climbed inside and went without help. We thought it was just a fluke but he had to go he would climb it each time. He's eight now and becomes a diva when we don't have litter he likes.
We let our dogs out by a leash to have fun/use the bathroom in the backyard. A couple years ago, me and my english mastiff were playing. He gently grabs my arm because I had a sleeve on (he wouldn’t unless something protected my arm, albeit a sleeve or curtain) and pulled me towards the backdoor because he had to go. He’s pretty lazy and I gotta say, that was the smartest thing i’ve ever seen him do.
And it’s really sweet. He’a very calm for a big dog. I could put my bare arm near him, no reaction. But if I had a sleeve on? (Sometimes we played with my curtains because they sucked and I was about to exchange them anyways) boom, it was PLAYTIME!
Load More Replies... My family once had a cat who figured out how to unzip zippers and open screen doors. His name was Figaro and he was a very smart kitty. :)
I had a goldfish that got a rock stuck in its mouth. It started swimming into the side of the tank to get my attention. I started hearing faint tapping sound from the rock against the glass. I managed to get the rock from its mouth. It was so weird.
One time, during Quarantine, we were having church on zoom and when my pastor was praying my cat CLOSED HIS EYES AND LOOKED DOWN LIKE HE WAS PRAYING
Shortly after we moved to our house my husband had to go to a course out of town and I was home alone with the huskyx and our older mastiffx. Our huskyx likes looking out the window and barking at random things, so this one night I thought that's what he was doing, until he started running to me and running back to the window. I got up to look outside and saw that our neighbor's shed was fully engulfed in flames, and the house beside them was also on fire. I quickly called 911 and got the fire department out there just as the fire spread to the back of the the neighbors house. Turns out my huskyx probably saved their lives, as their smoke alarms weren't working and the batteries hadn't been changed in years.
Growing up we adopted a Border Collie as a companion to our senior mutt. She kept him on his toes a would often hide his toys and food. Once I watched her push his food bowl into the corner, pull a bunch of fake flowers out of a pot. Place them on top the food and use her paw to push them down into place! She also would careful steal his bones from under his sleeping paws and bury them in the couch cushions, then move the pillows to cover them.
My golden retriever knew SO MANY WORDS. But the funniest thing that ever happened we didn't even teach him. My mother threw a piece of popcorn on the ground for him and it bounced in a weird way so he didn't know where it went. After he searched for a few seconds I said "To your left Tucker" and he immediately turned left and found it. We laughed for a looong time. Also, one of my cats used to be able to knock on the bedroom door in my apartment when he wanted in. He would tap his paw on the doorknob a few times and it sounded EXACTLY like a person knocking. It scared me and my husband the first few times it happened when we weren't dressed for company.
If our cats jump on the counters in the kitchen, they get put outside. So now they stay off the counters, unless we’re not listening to them ask to go outside. I’m having to put them outside in the most uncomfortable manner possible so it’s still a negative consequence. Our dog, on the other hand, may be too smart for his own good. I had him over at a friend’s house for a dog play date yesterday while I visited, and then someone opened the gate to take the trash out and he took that as an invitation to go home. About half a mile away, through a park and busy traffic. We had four people out looking for him, and I ended up jogging home to find him on our doorstep looking very pleased with himself. But then I had to jog back across the park to get my stuff before getting a ride home. While on the one hand I’m glad he knows to go home if he can’t find me, I do wish he would have at least tried looking around first. Apparently he didn’t even stop, just sprinted the whole way. Thanks, dog.
1 of my 2 cats is very smart. Lots of things she does. I got them a toy that has a ball they are meant to hit, it hits a lever and a treat drops. My girl Morgana, pulled the ball out and sticks her paw in the toy, hits the lever and gets the treats.
