# I think this dog is smarter than some people I've known



## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

I think our dog only knows 4 words (walk, out, treat, and no) :googly:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41489081/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Hmmm...I think if you actually spent time training a smart breed, it could learn a LOT more than we will ever know. Sweet Lord, who has time to train their dog for 4-5 hours a day for years!? I love how dogs understand concepts of finding things. I saw a hunting dog in the field listening to whistle commands to find a lost & unseen duck.The hunter knew where it had fallen & directed the dog where to go. Our dog has limited vision, so we taught him to do kinda the same thing. It's like playing hide & seek ("You're getting warmer..you're getting colder") but with commands.Borders are so smart you can almost see the wheels turning as they think things out. That's a cool article. Thanks for posting.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

When Chaser started chewing on the squeaky toy, my dog pricked up her ears and got very interested



Spooky1 said:


> I think our dog only knows 4 words (walk, out, treat, and no) :googly:


She also knows "sit", "down", "beg", "up", "shake", "other paw", "wanna eat?", and "time for your pee break"


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Does she slink away when she's been naughty? I love that.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

She slinks away when she thinks you want her to do something she doesn't want to do


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## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

debbie5 said:


> Hmmm...I think if you actually spent time training a smart breed, it could learn a LOT more than we will ever know. Sweet Lord, who has time to train their dog for 4-5 hours a day for years!? I love how dogs understand concepts of finding things. I saw a hunting dog in the field listening to whistle commands to find a lost & unseen duck.The hunter knew where it had fallen & directed the dog where to go. Our dog has limited vision, so we taught him to do kinda the same thing. It's like playing hide & seek ("You're getting warmer..you're getting colder") but with commands.Borders are so smart you can almost see the wheels turning as they think things out. That's a cool article. Thanks for posting.


Yeah, I think this is true, and I think that even an "untrained" animal knows much more then us humans might give them credit, an animal-human or otherwise, learn by cause and effect and repetition; my dog was never trained-it was more profitable on her part to train us instead  On the Harry Potter DVD(i forget which one) there is a behind the scenes part which talks about how owls are not very smart;it took a very long time to teach them to deliver letters; but my mom pointed out "what use is a piece of paper to an owl?" and I'm inclined to agree; it seems the stupid ones are the ones who pick up a piece of paper and fly it across the room; true, the trainer then gives it a treat and that shows intelligence, but not as much as what my dog would do in training us-her so called owners- for example when she stole some small item-like an ink pen- to get us to give her a treat because we didn't feel like chasing a 28lb cocker spaniel under, over furniture all over the house just to get a cheap pen(but we thought she might hurt herself chewing on it) so as soon as we stopped the chase and walked to go get a treat dear Ebony would release her prisoner(the ink pen) and step out to receive her treat, *but*, if we come back empty handed the chase was back on. Who's suppose to be the dumb one?


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## charlie1s (Sep 19, 2010)

yep dogs are smarter than most people I know..... I think alot of dogs actually train their people


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

hahahaha. my dog bruiser is pretty smart. he knows 'come, sit, play, traeat, bath, and off'. and whenever he sees me holding his red harness, he know's we're going for a walk. but now, i may attempt to train him some more....


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