# Dogs playing pranks on humans **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747 "2021-10-01T19:25:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/1 "2021-10-01T19:25:29Z")
My 100-pound dog had knee surgery last week. He’s too big to crate, so we’ve confined him to a small downstairs room, and Mrs A and I have been taking turns sleeping on an air mattress in the room with him. So at 2:15 a couple of mornings ago he woke me up – sniffing my face, etc – and then went over to where his leash was sitting and sniffed that. “Oh, you need to go out?” I asked, and he acted excited, so I got up and went to get the leash. And that’s when he climbed onto the air mattress and curled up in my spot. It was so well-executed, all I could do was laugh and spend the rest of the night in the recliner. So … was this pre-meditated? Did the dog actually hatch this plan to steal my spot? Or did he really want to go out, but then change his mind when he saw the vacant mattress? Can dogs actually play pranks on people? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/2 "2021-10-01T19:39:18Z")
My cat does this when the dog is in my lap. He’ll go into the kitchen and bang the cabinet doors. Dog will then proceed to go into the kitchen to see what the fuss is about. Cat will then run into the living room and jump on my lap. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/3 "2021-10-01T19:44:41Z")
We used to have two cats, and they certainly played pranks on each other, with ambushes around the corner, jumping over the other as soon as (s)he came through the door with all four legs wildly outstretched (gee, wasn’t that scary?), or waiting for each other when they were in the toilet box to tap the other one on the back on the way out (boo!) and the like. Also, cats are able to hide in an almost empty room in such a way that you cannot find them. We searched for them and they were not there, until we feared they had somehow managed to go outside, so we checked the stairs up and down, only to find them smirking (I swear!) when we came back, calmly sitting in the middle of the room, as if asking to one another: “what are _they_ so nervous about?” I believe they did that on purpose to amuse themselves. Several times. I guess a dog can do that as well. They have plenty of time and little else to do, don’t they? Or, put another way: I believe we humans can anthropomorphize a dog just as well or better than we can with a cat. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/4 "2021-10-01T20:02:48Z")
My dog does exactly the same thing. Her bed is on the floor next to ours. Twice now she has scratched on the door in the middle of the night to be let out, but as soon as I get up to open the door, she jumps onto the warm spot I just vacated. Actually, she has tried it more than twice, but I eventually got wise. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/5 "2021-10-01T20:12:13Z")
A friend has 2 dogs; a too-smart Australian Healer and another dog, “dumber than a box of rocks”. If Dummy is in the bed Smarty wants, Smarty will look out at the yard and bark. Dummy will get up to investigate, allowing Smarty to take the bed. It works every time. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/6 "2021-10-01T20:15:04Z")
Sounds like “deflect and occupy” is a standard tactic for smarter dogs and cats. Hopefully most humans only fall for it once or twice. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/7 "2021-10-01T20:26:13Z")
Or it coulda been “I think I need to go out now…but oh, a nice warm spot just opened up!..never mind the going out now.” ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/8 "2021-10-01T21:10:22Z")
At my last apartment, my mother and I rented a room from a family of three that had three dogs they doted on, and two cats, Jaydie and Mocha, whom they could really care less about. Jaydie and Mocha were left behind by a previous tenant. One night it occurred to me that I couldn’t find Jaydie anywhere, and I hunted high and low for him, even going out onto the back porch in case he got out of the house, and yelling for him. Shaking the treat bottle, the whole nine yards. Got bitched at by my landlady. Little brat was hiding in a kitchen cabinet. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/9 "2021-10-02T01:42:20Z")
One dog went to the front door and began barking threateningly. “Red Alert! Red Alert!” When we went to see what was wrong, she leapt onto my Wife’s chair and ate her dinner. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/10 "2021-10-02T02:54:12Z")
Yeah, that’s the exact example I give to show dogs are capable of lying. Our last dog would go to the door and sit – her signal to be let out. When one of us would get up to let her out, she’d take that person’s spot on the couch. It was well executed and timed. I definitely think it was planned and not just opportunistic. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/11 "2021-10-02T15:54:18Z")
Well, they wouldn’t be very good [poker players](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs_Playing_Poker) if they couldn’t bluff, would they? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/12 "2021-10-02T16:42:18Z")
My Border Collie used to do this (pretend need to go out to uproot one of the bipeds). When we figured it out he upped his game. Instead of sitting patiently at the back door, he’d start acking and yakking like he was about to throw up. We were never brave enough to play the odds on this one and he always won. And yes, dogs can laugh. You can see it in their cunning face. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-playing-pranks-on-humans/951747/13 "2021-10-02T18:24:54Z")
My little dog gets very excited when either of my two grown-up kids calls in to visit - and most of all, she wants to jump up and stick her tongue in their mouths. They usually kneel down to make a fuss of her and greet her, but keep sufficiently upright that she can’t reach their faces. Once she realises this, she will often crouch and grovel a bit, so they have to lean forward to pet her, then BAM - she leaps up like a shot and gets them - whiskers on the lips, tongue in the mouth. Often she will run around the room in triumphant excitement after catching them out like this.