Dogs are smart

[Kevin]

I was walking both dogs this afternoon. It was 80° an Jelly does not do well in the heat and humidity. So he was slower today. Thank God!

Anyway, we are on the sidewalk and a guy my age is pushing his dad in a wheelchair out of the house to the car.

They motioned for me to pass first. Like they would wait. It turned out the dad in the wheelchair wanted to pet Jelly and Rainy.

I was just scared. This guy was old and frail. He couldn’t talk and had very limited use of his hands.

Jelly is 11 months old and has the energy of a wild rhino.

But he is also sharp. Like you talk to him and he listens. And believe me, I was talking to him (Jelly) the entire time too.

He was the epitome of a therapy dog in training. Very calm and just a little eager to let the grandpa pet him.

The whole interaction didn’t last very long, but I really hope that grandpa had a good night thinking of Jelly.

 

[Jeepnik]

Animals don't have a language as we think of it. I'm pretty sure they have a sixth sense that allows them to figure out what's going on. Or maybe they are telepathic and we poor humans can only send, not receive. After all we are the third smartest animals on earth behind dolphins, and of course mice are the smartest.

 

[jimbo1096]

Arn’t dogs great?
Good job Jelly!

 

[coachk64]

We have a three-year-old, 100 pound Chocolate Lab named Rolo who just loves (like most dogs) to play tug-of-war. When I'm holding on to the other end of the toy he seems to pull just as hard as he can, nearly pulling me off my feet. When he's playing with my wife, or one of the grandkids, you can tell that he is pulling just as hard as they are pulling back, but no harder. He could drag my granddaughter around the yard at full speed if he wanted to, but he only pulls hard enough to make her pull back, and lets her drag him around. He certainly wasn't trained to do that, just knows how to play without hurting someone.

 

[Richbaker]

I was walking both dogs this afternoon. It was 80° an Jelly does not do well in the heat and humidity. So he was slower today. Thank God!

Anyway, we are on the sidewalk and a guy my age is pushing his dad in a wheelchair out of the house to the car.

They motioned for me to pass first. Like they would wait. It turned out the dad in the wheelchair wanted to pet Jelly and Rainy.

I was just scared. This guy was old and frail. He couldn’t talk and had very limited use of his hands.

Jelly is 11 months old and has the energy of a wild rhino.

But he is also sharp. Like you talk to him and he listens. And believe me, I was talking to him (Jelly) the entire time too.

He was the epitome of a therapy dog in training. Very calm and just a little eager to let the grandpa pet him.

The whole interaction didn’t last very long, but I really hope that grandpa had a good night thinking of Jelly.

Where are the dog pics???? You should know better.....

 

[jav]

Dogs are very intelligent more than we will ever know . Our catahola is very smart she understands everything I talk to her about . Kudos on jelly

 

[Rustynuts]

Have had 3 female labs over the years, lost one to cancer, the other to severe colitis. Both were great people dogs and loved to fetch, swim, and play tug od war. Worst part of having them is when you lose them. :cry: The 3rd one being a ice cream hound, lol ! :D

 

[contender]

I agree that dogs and other animals we call pets can be a lot smarter than we mere humans understand.

We recently experienced something I had never heard of. I'll share.

Most here know that we lost our DIL,, my youngest son's wife on 11/3/25. They have a dog. I can't pronounce (or remember) the breed. But that dog was Barbies "buddy." Of course,, he had to stay home while my son was at the hospital,, but was taken well care of during our ordeal.
A day or so after Barbie passed,, a friend suggest to my son that he should take the dog to the funeral home to see Barbie. He said that the dog would understand death,, but not abandonment. Not knowing where Barbie went,, would be more stressful to him.
Well, my son did that.
Amazingly,, it did seem to truly help the dog. In fact just today,, he described the dog as very playful & happy,, even thought he was also a bit more clingy to him.
I think it also helped my son to do this.
He has a pretty good understanding of dogs. Part of his LEO career,, he was an Animal Control Officer.

So yes,, Kevin,, I'm SURE Jelly understood that the elderly man was "good" and "needed" to pet a loving dog.

 

[WAYNO]

Yes, dogs are smart and I appreciate your dog tales.

I love dogs but have not had one in many years. I was visiting my nephew last week and over the weekend. They just happen to have a house full of dogs. A Heinz-57 pit bull and 4 Yorkies. These dogs were all absolute sweethearts and they loved and welcomed me.
I normally would have not been a Yorkie fan, but these little yippers were so nice just to have crawling all over me. :love:

.

 

[ArizonaTea123]

My little monster. Half Chihuahua and half Dachshund. He's old, about 12.
Very loyal and spoiled. He loves beef jerky and hamburger patties. He has to be with my wife and I at all times.
As a species they are usually called "Chiwinnies"

 

[vito]

Years ago I had a standard poodle who when young was a real food thief. He was tall enough to easily take food off the table or kitchen counter, but with maturing he stopped doing this after awhile. But he always was aware, of course, when food was around and if no one was watching he would occasionally attempt to sneak something off the table. One day my son, about 9 at the time was sitting on the floor in the living room with his pizza slice on a plate on the coffee table, and the dog laying nearby. The kitchen is next to the living room, and has a door leading to the back yard. Someone had opened this door and was standing in the doorway. I was standing a bit away and saw the dog react to the sound of the door opening. He stood up, looked around, and it was clear that he was calculating if he could grab the pizza and make it out the back door before being stopped. Suddenly he grabbed the pizza and ran at full speed to the kitchen and past the person standing there at the doorway, with my son several seconds behind him screaming for his slice of pizza. I had never seen evidence like this before of a dog clearly planning ahead, hesitating and then acting when the conditions were right for him to get away with stealing the pizza. They are smarter than we realize.

 

[coachk64]

Another time I was amazed by a dog was several years ago by our young Golden Retriever Bailey. My wife had brought a young kitten home from a shelter and we did our due diligence in gradually introducing them to each other, but the first time the kitten saw Bailey she totally freaked out and ran and hid. But after that Bailey seemed to know that this was going to take time and very slowly, over the next couple of weeks, would try to get close to the kitten, but as soon as she showed some distress Bailey would back off. She'd get closer and closer over time but would always back away as soon as the kitten hissed at her or crouched like she was going to bolt. After a couple of weeks they were sleeping together and were almost always in the same room.
I never would have expected a young dog to have that kind of patience or understanding of another animal's needs.
I would recommend anyone to at some time in their life to have a Golden Retriever...and a good vacuum cleaner.

 

[Rustynuts]

Lost count of how many vacuum cleaners we went thru having 3 Labs over the years, lol ! :D

 

[Kevin]

Contender, that is a nice story about your DIL and her dog. It probably did help the dog to understand where his person went.

And as to dogs and cats! I love the combo. When we first brought Blizzard home Nixon the cat was still in charge of the house. Blizzard learned his place very fast.

Now it’s Jelly’s turn with Berry the cat. Jelly wants to be her friend so badly. But Berry isn’t very social with people or dogs. So it’s a stand off and they have staring competitions.

Sometimes they do get together. When Berry wants to though. It’s her decision.

 

[rugnelli]

We had the greatest little mutt-terrier named both Rags and PW (short for Puddwinkle) that we would occasionally rough house with... she would actually get your hand in her mouth and pretend to "gnaw" on it while looking at you straight in the eye with a look that said, "I could really do it!" Oh, she knew what she was doing, alright. One time she was laying on her back in a chair and she farted as I walked by... She whipped her head around to look at me and I swear she was laughing!

 

[Armybrat]

Yep, dogs are smart, even Texas canines….

 

[Jeepnik]

I can't wait until he figures out how to take the tops off the beer.

 

[wproct]

We have not owned a dog for many years, but our son does so we get involved in taking care of them when he is gone. He had a Boxer, Ben. I became very attached to him. A dog will just look at you and their eyes are saying a lot. You just wonder what they are thinking? They are so intelligent and understanding. Some people believe in re-incarnation. I don't really, but you look into a dog's eyes sometimes and you wonder.

 

[Armybrat]

Meet the cousin’s dog, Nutcracker (named for the ballet show) ….

 

[ned]

I agree that dogs and other animals we call pets can be a lot smarter than we mere humans understand.

We recently experienced something I had never heard of. I'll share.

Most here know that we lost our DIL,, my youngest son's wife on 11/3/25. They have a dog. I can't pronounce (or remember) the breed. But that dog was Barbies "buddy." Of course,, he had to stay home while my son was at the hospital,, but was taken well care of during our ordeal.
A day or so after Barbie passed,, a friend suggest to my son that he should take the dog to the funeral home to see Barbie. He said that the dog would understand death,, but not abandonment. Not knowing where Barbie went,, would be more stressful to him.
Well, my son did that.
Amazingly,, it did seem to truly help the dog. In fact just today,, he described the dog as very playful & happy,, even thought he was also a bit more clingy to him.
I think it also helped my son to do this.
He has a pretty good understanding of dogs. Part of his LEO career,, he was an Animal Control Officer.

So yes,, Kevin,, I'm SURE Jelly understood that the elderly man was "good" and "needed" to pet a loving dog.

Thank you. My wife and her standard poodle are exceptionally bonded....if her time comes while he is still around, I will find a way to make that happen

 

[Richbaker]

My crew...

 

[p345Fan]

My dog is a mix. Pitt Bull and possibly Black Lab. She sleeps with me every night. I am diabetic. She can sense when my blood sugar is dangerously low. She will lock my face nonstop until I wake up.

I go to check my blood sugar on my dex com and it is usually a point or two above where the critical low alarm is set ( at 50). I get up and eat candy and whatever and go back to sleep, and she snuggles up by my side. She was adopted by us from the local shelter when she was about a year old. She is ten now.

 

[Mobuck]

After I was burned three years ago, my buddy the livestock guard dog would sniff my injured hands every day as if to make sure they were OK. He still does this and will show more interest if there's a ding/gouge/scrape on either hand. I have no doubt that at least some dogs can detect a change in human chemistry such as blood sugar or other things such as adrenalin.
A few years back, a county Deputy asked me to help him assess the capabilities of his new patrol dog in reference to GSR. The reason: I was not afraid or nervous about the dog's presence which would cause an adrenaline rush which might affect the dog's reaction to GSR. I would show up with various types of GSR of known age or history or nothing at all just to make sure the dog wasn't alerting on a known human scent.

 

[contender]

ned,, if that helps you,, excellent. But I hope it doesn't come to that.