Reading a post about pill taking in another thread brought back memories. I had a little Chow mix that had a problem with nasal swelling which would cause her to wheeze and snort. The vet said to give her a Benedryl capsule when that happened and she would be ok in a few minutes. The routine became Foxy would wheeze, I would go to the kitchen and wrap a capsule in some cheese and give it to her. Of course the other three dogs would race into the kitchen when they heard the refrigerator open. Naturally each of them would have to have a piece of cheese too. After a while it became, Foxy would wheeze, the other three dogs would leap up and race to the kitchen, waiting for Foxy and me and the cheese. Sometimes I swear I hear them saying “Come on Foxy wheeze so we can get some cheese.”

If you put a dog on a chain in a filthy yard it is nothing but an alarm for intruders and it lives in misery. If you actually pay attention to a dog and work with it's thought process they are an amazing creature. I sometimes wonder if they can read my mind. I know it's not possible as they are just keen on learning patterns but they sure are good at it. Our dogs are far past getting excited by hearing words like "Go" when we refer to packing up and leaving. They start to get excited just by seeing certain items touched that we dont touch or use all the time.I tell the DW that it's just eat, sleep and poop but the portion of the time that they are awake is not wasted. They are taking all of it in and learning patterns. We have taught our Papion to hold still with a little stuffed toy on her nose. When we say ok, she can jerk her head sideways and snap it out of the air before it starts to fall. We often hide the little toy and tell her to find it and she puts her to nose to work. DW washed her little toy and dried it, now every time the dryer door is open she jumps in looking for the toy.

I'd say Foxy and the other three have you trained to get the cheese on their command. :)

Get cheap vienna sausages instead of cheese.

True story:I had a cat who had big thick cheeks that were "pinch worthy". Every so often, I would give them a little pinch and tell her she was cute. She hated it. One day (around noon), after pinching her cheeks and getting a nasty glare in return, I said "if you don't want me to pinch your cheeks anymore then find me a cute little kitten". That night around 11:30, I opened the back door to let her in. She was sitting on the banister of the steps and sitting in the center of the top step was an adorable little kitten about 8 weeks old...I never pinched her cheeks again.

I had a Chow mix and when he wanted something he would come and stare at me. I would ask him, "What do you want, Tramp?" and he would lead me to whatever he wanted. Sometimes the water dish was empty, or he went to the back door to go out, or he would go the drawer where the treats were stored. A couple of times he pointed to my dinner.

Who says dogs can’t reason? | Good Sam Community

gmckenzie
Explorer
Sep 29, 2015
Had 2 rescues at the same time a few years back. One bright as could be and the other dumb ass a post. The bright one had been a stray and gobbled her food down as quick as possible. The other picked at her food. So dog 1 would wolf down her food, go to the front window and bark. Dog 2 would come to see what the barking was about and dog 1 would go and finish her food. Dog 2 never did clue into what was going on.
Crowe
Explorer
Sep 29, 2015
Specifically, I think that was conditioned response, not reasoning.

Pavlov's theory is, indeed, conditioned response. While I don't disagree some dogs can process behaviors and words better than others, what the OP posted is a conditioned response, not reasoning. Same behavior, same outcome is conditioning not reasoning. Most of what has been described is also not reasoning-you are exhibiting a behavior, i.e. getting a hunting firearm or ammo-and the dog is responding accordingly.

All I have to do is get out a box of shotgun shells. BPCR (black powder cartridge rifle) cartridges have no effect (like Tom Selleck shot in Quigley Down Under), but let me get out a box of 16ga shells and Barney the Beagle is ready to go.

Smell. Black powder and shotgun powder smell very different and this is most likely what the dog is picking up on.

Again, I'm not saying all dogs responses are conditioned just that more are than we'd like to think.
cheteckie
Explorer
Sep 29, 2015
Mercury, our 4 month-old puppy, figured out how to get extra food in his bowl at dinner time. When I'm pouring food in the bowl, be pushes on the bottom of the bag with his nose, making the food pour faster.
drcook
Explorer
Sep 29, 2015
When I was a kid, my beagle would get excited if she saw me walk out the door with a long gun. She loved to hunt.

All I have to do is get out a box of shotgun shells. BPCR (black powder cartridge rifle) cartridges have no effect (like Tom Selleck shot in Quigley Down Under), but let me get out a box of 16ga shells and Barney the Beagle is ready to go.
Deb_and_Ed_M
Explorer II
Sep 29, 2015
rjxj wrote:
If you actually pay attention to a dog and work with it's thought process they are an amazing creature. I sometimes wonder if they can read my mind. I know it's not possible as they are just keen on learning patterns but they sure are good at it.

Sorry - I disagree. I'm not saying ALL dogs can, but I have seen dogs who do - my Aussie Ike was almost scary in his ability to "see" what we were thinking.
Best example: middle of the night, and I'm in bed dreaming about something or another, and Ike walks into my dream, looks me in the eyes, and barks. Since he's disrupted my sleep before (and now I was mentally awake), I decided to "test" him. I never said a word, never opened my eyes, never moved AT ALL. But I thought "If you really need me, you'd do something more definite than this" and BAM!!! He head-butted the side of the bed.....LOL!! My message was received by him loud and clear (so I got up and let him outside, which is apparently what he wanted)

Another time, we had been driving for several hours, running errands (Ike and Jack were with us, sound asleep in the back seat). It dawned on me that we were coming up to our (empty) fairgrounds in a few miles, and maybe we should stop and let the dogs run loose for a few minutes. I never said a word - but Ike jumped up from his nap, all excited, and barked at me as if to say "Well HURRY UP!"
OutdoorPhotogra
Explorer
Sep 29, 2015
I've seen smart behavior by many dogs but a hunting beagle I had as a kid took the cake. She kept escaping from her pen but I couldn't find a hole. I would stand and watch her and she would just stare at me but when I turned to walk away, she was by my side in seconds. None of the other beagles in the pen would get out. I finally had to back up while staring at her and hide behind a tree for her to give away the spot where she could get through the fence.

I spent many an hour just running through the woods with those beagles in summers. Great life as a kid in the country. Wish I'd know then how to train a dog like I can now. No internet of course nor easy access to a bookstore to find a book.
rexlion
Explorer
Sep 29, 2015
When I was a kid, my beagle would get excited if she saw me walk out the door with a long gun. She loved to hunt.
dspencer
Explorer
Sep 28, 2015
AZPops wrote:
Nevur mind. He's not that smart. .... :B

Pops

Don't bet on it Pops...:B
mabynack
Explorer II
Sep 28, 2015
My Pit Bull sometimes wants a toy that one of the other dogs has or he wants to get on the couch and there's no room for him. He figured out that he can go to the front door and bark and all the other dogs drop what they're doing and come running. He calmly goes into the living room, picks up the toy he wanted and jumps on the couch. The others haven't figured it out yet.
drcook
Explorer
Sep 28, 2015
Our Shih-Poo figured out how to open the dog crate on his own. When we took in Barney the Beagle from the rescue group, he had spent his life in a kennel and didn't know about not whizzing in the house yet, so he had to stay in the crate when we were not home. A bunch of times we would come home and he would be out of the crate.

One day, the little guy didn't know I was home and I stood and watched him get the latch to the crate in his mouth, lift it up and walk sideways to open the door. He figured that out all on his own.

One of the bodyguards had an accident in the house when we were switching foods to get his skin allergies under control (he is a 115 lb Doberman/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix). He was so ashamed, he went and got a rug from another part of the house to cover it. He thought if we didn't see it, it never happened. He could think past the smell issue though. But still......

His brother, bigger yet, 125 lbs, has a rudimentary "language". He has specific whines, and other vocalizations that I can understand. There is a specific one for water, one to go outside, one to tell the Shih Tzu puppy to behave.

The other ones can tell time and they have a sense of math. When handing out treats, each of our 6 four legged children has to get exactly the same number as the others. It doesn't matter if the bigger dogs get a bigger treat, just if one dog gets 2 treats, they all better get 2 treats.

When it was getting close to time to go pick up my wife from work at the hospital (when she worked 2nd I would take her and pick her up) they would all go sit at the back door 1/2 hr ahead of time to make sure they got to go on a ride.