How much do we know about what's going on in our pets' minds? If you believe that it's all simple in there, pondering about a delicious snack or where's the ball, think again. Sometimes our furry friends seem to have an incredibly intelligent side we're not aware of.
Reddit user Overt Operation started a viral thread about the most "creepily intelligent thing" our pets have ever done and it quickly spread to other platforms, gaining most of its popularity on Twitter. The well known Wholesome Memes account posted the same question and hundreds of responses started pouring in, each more surprising than the previous one.
Check out the best tweets Bored Panda has collected from the thread, upvote your favorite ones, and be sure to share about the times your own pets acted ridiculously smart in the comment section below.
Wholesome Memes posted a viral thread about the most "creepily intelligent" things pets have ever done and received hundreds of surprising stories
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Rats are super smart. One of mine figured out what the latch on his cage door was for. He wasn't strong enough to open it, but he would start grabbing at it to let me know when he wanted to come out.
We reached out to Dr. Brian Hare, author of Genius of Dogs, to find out more about our pets and their intelligence. He is a core member of the Center of Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University and has been researching the evolution of cognition by studying both humans and animal species.
When asked about the intelligence of our dogs, the best-selling author said that sometimes we do overestimate them, especially when it comes to understanding physics. “Dogs usually fail principles of connectivity, where they get tangled around lamp posts. Or gravity, when they drop their ball on a really steep hill.”
However, we underestimate them too: “For instance, dogs are better at reading our body language than our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos. Even though dogs do not have hands and do not point, they can understand what we mean when we point, either to help them retrieve something they’ve lost, or if we want them to see something that we have seen.”
Humans are also able to connect with dogs on a deeper emotional level, like through eye contact. “Researchers have found that when your dog stares at you, oxytocin, also known as the ‘hug hormone’ goes up in you, and when you return your dog’s gaze, their oxytocin goes up,” Dr. Hare explained.
He added: “This promotes feelings of warmth and bonding, and is also known as an oxytocin loop. This also happens to be how babies bond with their parents—before they can walk or talk. They rely on eye contact to bond, and it seems our dogs do the same.”
There have been countless studies about dogs and their incredible ability to detect smells. However, Dr. Hare mentioned that their sense of smell is actually not as remarkable compared to other animals, for example, a rat. “But because our human sense of smell is so pitiful, we find it wondrous that dogs can use their sense of smell to track down endangered animals, or find a missing child by smelling a scrap of clothing,” he said.
According to the best-selling author, smell might help dogs remember someone who has been gone for a long time, or who has changed remarkably in appearance. But what smell has done, paired with their relationship to us, is to help us through partnership—dogs can help smell explosives, or detect narcotics, or find missing people, or endangered species. "Because dogs are motivated to help us, their sense of smell benefits us in a way that a rat’s never would," he explained.
When it comes to canine intelligence, it is not just one-dimensional. Dr. Hare said that a person can be smart at math but terrible at English, one can be a great public speaker but a terrible listener. Dogs are the same: "There are many different types of intelligence and different dogs are good at different things. That being said, we can certainly help dogs hone their natural abilities, through training and practice."
We also contacted jei, a Twitter user who replied to this thread and shared how their cat came running into the room after they sneezed, trying to check up on them. Talking about how well our four-legged friends know us, jei mentioned that they probably understand a lot more than we realize.
For example, when their mom comes over, their fluffy cat is well aware of how to get a few pleasant rubs: "He knows she might ignore him if he sits quietly but if he brushes by her with his tail up, she’ll stop to rub him," they told Bored Panda. The same goes when their mother is eating, the cat will wait until she’s ready to get up, then "he comes tail up to entice her to rub him first before she moves."
Jei thinks that pets can sniff out our troubles simply because they watch us and have keen senses for picking up things we don’t yet realize ourselves. For example, their fluffy feline is very observant and caring: "If I sneeze he is usually coming to check and meow at me, if he hears me fake crying or making sad noises he will come (my chunky cat is not impressed or pressed to check), and if I am sick both will usually be more cuddly and tend to stick around more from room to room."
They assume that we can train our pets to become more intelligent. "I call my kitties Bonnie and Clyde sometimes because of the things they get into together. … I know I have seen them work together to figure out things on their own."
Bonnie (chunky) is highly food-motivated and always watches her owners to see where they hide the delicious snacks and how to reach them. She even figured out three ways to open most doors in the house. "Clyde (fluffy) would usually watch her and it would be several times watching before he could figure out how to do what she was doing," jei told us.
One of mine learnt that from a cat resort when I had to go away for a bit. It’s insane the stuff they do. My mini would get a firm “off the table!!!” Anytime she jumped up onto the kitchen bench or dining table etc one day I needed to make lunches and I told her “get of the dang table mini!!!” She looks around and continues to place all 4 paws on a folded cloth napkin off to the side and squat = technically not touch the bench. I could go on about her smarts but that one always makes me laugh, the fact she even processes that thought makes me proud.
Sounds like the same way an adult dog would behave with a puppy!
When I was little, my dog would always circle around the pool to make sure I didn’t drown. She fell in a couple times 😂
Even if we tend to exaggerate their intelligence, we can’t deny that sometimes our furry friends act ridiculously smart, surprising everyone around them. The stories in this viral thread range from acts of mild heroism to clever displays of how our pets simply try to show us that they care.
Her name was Mia. We live out of town and whenever we let her out she always checked the perimeter to make sure it was safe. The East side of the house backed up against the woods. That side was always first to be checked. That's were she always posted up.
My cat loves watching me play world of warcraft (not any other games I play) and I think its because she knows that her name Onyxia is a dragon from WoW
I had two dogs (with about 3 years between them) that were the best of friends and would bark on going when we took one to the vet that we had to take both just to save the carry on from them. the oldest died and the younger dog was never the same and died 6mths later, I believe from missing her. Animals are so loving!
My Doberman does that we call her slappy and my boy that’s nearly a year old (on New Years) and is massive does it too
for those who do not know, hypoglycemia is low blood sugar, hyperglycemia is high blood sugar. This is mostly found in diabetics and pre diabetics (I'm pre type 1) and its referred to as highs and lows sometimes. If you go too high or low for too long you can end up in a coma, or sometimes worse. To fix hypo, you eat high sugar/digestable things, like milk, orange juice, some choose candys. Hyper you use insulin.
Ok so to those who made it this far, I want a cat but my mom is deathly allergic so we’re basically a dog fam by nature. When I grow up, I will study medicine and invent a med for my mom so she won’t be allergic around cats. I honest to god really want one because the one my witch stepmom had loved me, btw she practiced witchcraft, so plz advice would be appreciated
I had a girlie the spitting image of the dog in the photo. I miss her every day!
My cichlids (many different species) have always told me when my filters are having issues. They attack the filter while staring at me. Fish are way more interactive than most people think.
I am ashamed to admit it took me several tries not to read that as "Greyhound called bus".
My cat Mischief does this. He's a bit of a jerk, and doesn't cuddle me at all (he foes sleep in the bed though) but if I'm upset, angry, or sad, he stays glued to my side and follows me everywhere, not to be petted though, I think he's just making sure I'm ok.
The same cat and dog I wrote a post about earlier, well, the cat was at it again. When my parents moved to the country it was summer. They kept the sliding glass door opened to cool the place. One day my dad was doing the dishes and looking out the window saw Morris and Pepper calmly walking down the road. WTH? Morris had figured out how to slide the screen door open and go for a walk together. From then on we kept the screen door locked.
I did it once and never again 😂 I kept calling her pookie but tubby and she glared and walked off to the other room
When our dog was getting slower in his last weeks (8yo blond lab with the big C) our cat, & his biggest fan, would bring him mice/birds. All were alive and he would look at them as to say 'Thanks, but what do I do with this?'. When the vet came round to do the deed, she came into the room as the dog was sedated and just licked his head till he fell asleep. She then snuggled with him as the vet gave the last injection. Was so sweet made all of us inc. vet cry.
In terminology for ppl living in the US, I believe that gammon joint would be the same as like smoked ham hock, as gammon is the word for ham.
My dog found out where the garbage was so we put a latch on the cupboard... he ripped the whole door off. Not smart but very determined!
My dog was awesome. We just got a new puppy, and had opened up the garage door. The puppy escapes, so does my dog. 5 seconds later my dog comes back tugging the end of the leash that the puppy is attached to. We eventually put a gate outside the garage. And a dog door out the back.
I was trimming the nails of my rabbit, Gadget, and accidentally trimmed one too short. Gadget squeaked, jumped off my lap, and ran behind me where my other rabbit, Gizmo was. They conferred for a moment, and then Gizmo came around in front of me and nipped my hand. Only time he ever bit me. Fair enough, I thought. He's gotta take care of his friend.
One of my cats can open YouTube on my tablet. I sometimes put on videos for the cats to watch and he has memorized the location of the YouTube app. This cat is also the reason I've had to disable 1 click purchasing on my devices, as he has purchased items before.
My dog is incredibly dumb (but crazy sweet, honestly I love you). One night she started bark at a window that pointed to the back yard. It freaked me out so I grabbed my gun expecting a wild boar. I live in the country so I see they semi frequently. For those that don't know, wild boar is incredibly dangerous. They will ram and kill just about anything including small children and dogs. I've even seen them, as a pack, attack a car, taking out the tires and tearing apart the rubber. It's crazy. I wasn't about to let wild boar think that they could claim my yard when I had toddler nieces and nephew visiting a lot at the time. Nothing was out there. My dog was scared of the Groot popcorn bowl I got at the theater that was sitting on the table between the window and her.
Lol my dog gets completely freaked out by indoor furniture being outside. He ferociously growls and barks then sideways retreats and proceeds to have a panic attack where I have to pick him up and cuddle him while he's shaking. He is a 65lb german shepherd. I have no idea why he does this and I've had him since he was born (he's the son of my other shepherd) so I know there's no trauma involved. He is stunted and has some brain damage from being stillborn I usually attribute his quirks to that. Too funny it was a popcorn bowl for your doggo!!
Load More Replies...I was trimming the nails of my rabbit, Gadget, and accidentally trimmed one too short. Gadget squeaked, jumped off my lap, and ran behind me where my other rabbit, Gizmo was. They conferred for a moment, and then Gizmo came around in front of me and nipped my hand. Only time he ever bit me. Fair enough, I thought. He's gotta take care of his friend.
One of my cats can open YouTube on my tablet. I sometimes put on videos for the cats to watch and he has memorized the location of the YouTube app. This cat is also the reason I've had to disable 1 click purchasing on my devices, as he has purchased items before.
My dog is incredibly dumb (but crazy sweet, honestly I love you). One night she started bark at a window that pointed to the back yard. It freaked me out so I grabbed my gun expecting a wild boar. I live in the country so I see they semi frequently. For those that don't know, wild boar is incredibly dangerous. They will ram and kill just about anything including small children and dogs. I've even seen them, as a pack, attack a car, taking out the tires and tearing apart the rubber. It's crazy. I wasn't about to let wild boar think that they could claim my yard when I had toddler nieces and nephew visiting a lot at the time. Nothing was out there. My dog was scared of the Groot popcorn bowl I got at the theater that was sitting on the table between the window and her.
Lol my dog gets completely freaked out by indoor furniture being outside. He ferociously growls and barks then sideways retreats and proceeds to have a panic attack where I have to pick him up and cuddle him while he's shaking. He is a 65lb german shepherd. I have no idea why he does this and I've had him since he was born (he's the son of my other shepherd) so I know there's no trauma involved. He is stunted and has some brain damage from being stillborn I usually attribute his quirks to that. Too funny it was a popcorn bowl for your doggo!!
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