# My Dogs are so much smarter than I thought they were **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 10, 2023, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438 "2023-04-10T05:25:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/21 "2023-04-10T19:47:58Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > started using the German word “Spazieren” (“stroll”), which Max never quite figured out. Now, had he been a Dachshund or Weimaraner or Schnauzer or German Shepherd, he would have quickly verstanden. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/22 "2023-04-10T20:10:25Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > There have been some amazing developments with teaching dogs to talk with buttons. It turns out they actually have quite the inner life. > > The one that really got me, the dog kept hitting the “mad” button. Owner comes to investigate, turns out the “beach” button was broken. While owner messed with it, the dog paced around a bit, then hit “want” “go” “water” “outside.” Wait…those are real?! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/23 "2023-04-10T21:19:14Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > I can ask him to go (bother) another family member. I say “Go to \_\_\_” and she’ll head to that person. Our previous two dachshunds were each attached to either my sister or me. Luc was my sister’s boy. I just had to tell him to “go find Pat,” and he’d put his nose to the ground and hunt her down. > [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > The kitchen table is, of course, the ultimate most tempting table. He has two tricks here. One is that he has learned to push the kitchen chairs out in order to use them to climb up to the table. One of the dachshunds we had when I was a teen (Thunderfoot) did this. The dinette set chairs were on casters, and the flooring was vinyl, so they rolled easily for her. However, the beagle was afraid to be on or jump on the chairs because they moved. Once, we stupidly left some chocolate cake on the table, and Thunder jumped up and started chowing down. Rogie, the beagle, went ballistic and started doing that combination scream/bark/yodel that beagles do. That woke up my mom (the rest of us had gone out), and she was _pissed._ ThunThun was ok, but she did barf all over the carpet in my sister’s room. As for understanding words. we had to spell w-a-l-k, and of course they knew that way too soon. With Rogie, she loved milk, so for her, milk was “leche,” so she know it was milk for her. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/24 "2023-04-10T22:19:14Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > . Who knows to cover their own shit with a paper towel? my cat who has a perfectly good box that’s in an unused bathtub and will use it but if she thinks it stinks or isn’t emptied to her approval shell go right next to it but she covers it up with toilet paper she’s unrolled … ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/25 "2023-04-10T22:45:43Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Thunderfoot… Awesome name! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/26 "2023-04-10T22:51:58Z")
Yeah, when she did zoomies, she was LOUD. Another AKA was monkeybutt, because she was a black and tan and had a tan butt. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/27 "2023-04-10T22:55:46Z")
Hickory has A Gold-Plated Asshole. It’s really quite pretty! Shaped like a Ghost. I call it Golden Ghost, of course. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/28 "2023-04-11T18:46:14Z")
Our two dogs are smart in several ways, but the most impressive to me is that they recognize the end credits for TV shows. My wife and I usually watch (or binge watch) episodes of different series right before we go to bed. The dogs can’t tell exactly what time it is when an episode ends, but they consistently jump up when the credits start to roll and run to the dog door to take care of business. They probably get pretty frustrated when we decide to watch “just one more” episode before turning in. Mind you, these are not necessarily episodes for the same series. We might watch one show and then switch to another. But regardless of what show, even one they’ve never seen before, they pick up on the credits starting. Furthermore, they often pick up on the theme music starting as the credits roll. They don’t have to have a line of sight to the TV…they hear the theme music and jump up to run to the backyard. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/29 "2023-04-11T19:13:05Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Hickory has A Gold-Plated Asshole. It’s really quite pretty! Shaped like a Ghost. I call it Golden Ghost, of course. Of _course._ ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/30 "2023-04-11T20:53:48Z")
I used to have a Border Collie named Lita and a Boxer/Black Mouthed Cur named Reggie. Lita was like a rebellious teenager who escaped my fence constantly and taught Reggie how to do it. She’d instigate fights at the dog park to get him involved. She got away with everything because she used the power of cuteness. She knew how to push Reggie’s buttons. I’d give them chewy strips. Lita would devour hers instantly, while Reggie would carry his around like a teddy bear and nibble on it every once in while. Lita came up with interesting ways to steal his. One time, she went through the dog flap to the back yard and started barking. Reggie was the on the couch. Upon hearing her barking, he ran out to bark at whatever she was barking at. While he did so, she sauntered back inside and made for his chewy strip. He then crashed through the dog flap and jumped over the table onto the couch to snatch it away before she could get her teeth on it. To think she ran away from home for about a year when I first brought him, and then came back to stay permanently. She was too clever for her own good. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/31 "2023-04-11T21:05:49Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > But, each one was covered with an old dried up paper towel, or piece of chewed up mattress. Something they found. Wow. My cats would hide their hairballs until they realized I would clean them up. Now they check up on me to be sure that I did clean it up. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/32 "2023-04-12T00:14:08Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > One time, she went through the dog flap to the back yard and started barking. Reggie was the on the couch. Upon hearing her barking, he ran out to bark at whatever she was barking at. While he did so, she sauntered back inside and made for his chewy strip I’ve had dogs do variations on this theme. Sneaky little devils. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/33 "2023-04-12T04:49:23Z")
The Crew know the difference from Pink Floyd and Jane’s Addiction of dog barking. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/34 "2024-06-07T07:34:59Z")
My sister’s dog has a great sense of smell and maybe some real emotive intelligence, almost like empathy. A week ago I tripped over an edge of a concrete sidewalk and skinned my knee. The skin’s growing back under the thick bandages and doesn’t seem infected. Nevertheless her dog sniffed the scabs through my jeans four times tonight, causing my nephew to laugh that the skin seems to be smelling south of cheese. Her dog then started licking her paw that got bandaged and mostly healed up. The dog looked me deep in the eyes and my sister said “i think she’s sharing your pain Eric.” The dog seems to have some kind of intelligence all right. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438/35 "2024-06-07T17:15:47Z")
> [@Eric1](#): > > Nevertheless her dog sniffed the scabs through my jeans four times tonight, causing my nephew to laugh that the skin seems to be smelling south of cheese. Her dog then started licking her paw that got bandaged and mostly healed up. The dog looked me deep in the eyes and my sister said “i think she’s sharing your pain Eric.” Not to harsh the buzz on a sweet story, but… it could just have been that the dog was instinctively responding to smelling a wound (your knee) by licking the wound she could reach (her paw). Dogs, like lots of other animals, do have an instinctive reaction to clean a wound by licking it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dogs-are-so-much-smarter-than-i-thought-they-were/982438.md?page=1)