# Who says dogs can't reason?!?



## SusanG (Aug 8, 2009)

Callie is now 1 1/2 and still amazing me with her intelligence and growing ability to reason. Gotta brag! Today I bought her a bone from the butcher's (it had been several months since I got the last). She didn't see it, but must have smelled it when I opened the fridge door to get something out - and immediately began pawing at the closet door in the family room. She was VERY insistent! Why? Because last time she had a bone, I had covered the rug with a sheet (which had been stored in the closet) Wow - connecting the smell of the bone with knowing that we had to get the sheet out!
(Of course, like all poodle owners we have to spell a LOT of words, and now she is learning to spell!) 
Can't imagine life without her!


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

Yes, poodles really are something else, aren't they? I have been owned by them for 30 years now!


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## mom24doggies (Mar 28, 2011)

Loo, so cute! Kinda like when I get out a certain pair of shoes or certain clothes my dogs know what I'm doing and react accordingly. Work shoes make them beg to go with me, (Trev wakes up begging to go to work....his dream life would be to be with me 24/7) walking shoes make me want to strangle (figuratively of course.) them as they all go crazy, and dress shoes/nice clothes make them droop as they realize it's a no dogs allowed outing. They are a lot smarter than we think.


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## RescueMomX2 (Jul 13, 2012)

My girls know what's going on ALL the time. Sometimes I wish they could clue me in! I sure wish I knew how to train them since I know they are craving that action. Coming from a puppy mill (they were breeders; abused, no doubt) they will not be trained as a 'normal' dog. I'll just have to keep trying and keep loving them  
Any suggestions on getting them over storm-anxiety? Thunder today is keeping them skittish.


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## roulette (Feb 18, 2011)

Ha ha ..we have to spell "eye boogers" here : )


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## Marcie (Aug 2, 2011)

RescueMomX2: I have 2 rescues as well. One is an owner surrender, Sasha ("a/k/a Sugar"). It took her one year from the day we got her before she wagged her tail. I was so excited, I called my husband at work and I could hear him tell all the nurses that Sasha wagged her tail. They thought he was crazy until he explained. Now her tail is never still.

I got Sasha when she was 7 years old in 2009. I believe she belonged to an older woman that had to go into a nursing home and she was put with family members who did not want her and probably abused her. Sometime I think they hit her in the head. She then ended up at Poodle Rescue of Houston.

She never learned how to play or if she did she forgot. She tries by laying on her side and scratching her front and back legs back and forth on the carpet or bedding while turning her head back and forth and making little mewing sounds. It looks really strange and when she first did it I laughed so hard I almost choaked and now whenever I laugh she will go into her play mode. She cannot roll over on her back, it is almost like it is painful and this is one of the reasons I groom her myself. The groomer kept trying to hold her on her back and she would fight and become so stressed it would take her two days to recover even though I would tell them not to put her on her back.

She will not drink water in the house unless you hold a cup of water up to her mouth and ask her to drink even though all she would have to do is turn her head from her food bowl to her water bowl and drink. I always keep fresh water next to her food bowl just in case she ever decides to try to drink from her bowl. Therefore I am either letting her out a lot to drink or following her around with a glass of water. I have a drinking station set up outside on the patio that she will drink from and short cups of water all over the house that I can grab to see if she is thirsty. She has finally learned to walk up to her bowl and eat instead of sneeking up grabbing a bite and running. 

She is going blind and I really need for her to learn commands to help her get around. When we go out to potty I tell her to stay to my right and pat my leg as she walks on my right side. On the way back to the house I tell her to stay to my left and pat my left leg as she walks on my left side back to the house. I do that because we have a pool and I want to be between her and the pool at all times. Whenever she is unsure of herself or needs help she just barks once and I come running to help. She really is a good trainer. It didn't take me long to learn what she wanted. She will ask to get on the bed and sleeps near the foot of our bed.

Sasha has a special place in my heart since she helped me beat cancer with that funny little play mode she goes into. Even the doctor was suprised about my progress. I owe it all to Sasha and how she got me to laugh.

I got GiGi ("SD-5") in February 2012, from Poodle Rescue of Houston. She just turned 8 in April and she is a breeder surrender. She came in with about 15 other toy poodles. She didn't even have a name but she did have a number tatooed on the inside of her back leg. She was just property and frightened of everone and everything. 

I brought her home on a Sunday took off work on Monday to be with her and did not let her out of my sight for one minute. She sleeps right up next to me at night and If she needs to get up for any reason she wakes me and we go together. Sometime she just wants to get a drink or a bite of food. Other times she does need to go out to potty. 

It was so sad, she was outside with me one day and picked up this rock and was trying to play with it. That is when I gave her one of my cat's old toys that I had put up after the cat died. GiGi was in heaven! She played with that stuffed animal and shook the stuffing out of it. Since then I have gotten her so many toys, Bill and I have to shove them over to get into bed. 

She tries to play with our Pomeranian but she scares him a little. When I get home for lunch I immediately let them out and the Pom used to run out first and GiGi would run out right behind him and clamp onto his tail as he was running hanging on like a clothes pin. Now he waits until she goes out first and gets a little distance before he goes out. 

She is a spunky little tom boy at least when nobody is around except me. She is getting better about being around my husband but still kind of slinks around him. When we go out anywhere she acts like a shrinking violet and shakes like a leaf. No one would ever believe how self confident and agressive she is at home seeing her like that. She is my little shadow, I cannot get up without her right there. When I take a shower she sits outside the door waiting for me.

When I go to work I tell them I am going to work to earn their dog food and they don't bark or cry at the door. If I don't tell them I am going to work but I just running out to the grocery store, I can hear them barking and crying at the door.

I am to the point now that I don't want to go on vacation without them. I am sure I will have separation anxiety. 

Sorry about the long post but I love talking about my girls.


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## Shammy (Aug 4, 2012)

roulette said:


> Ha ha ..we have to spell "eye boogers" here : )


Bwaa haa haaa! With my last spoo, if you said "eye boogies", Bailey would take off running. Oh he knew what was coming!

He also knew what it meant when I put on just one rubber glove (Frontline time). He's take his place in the kitchen and sit down next to the chair he knew I'd be sitting in to put it on him. And, knew it was time to go to the gym if I got my workout sneakers out. There are so many things he knew, repetitive actions that he easily figured out. It was quite amazing, then again, we know how smart they are!

Lia (11 weeks) already knows the word "treat" and will go sit by the canister that her treats are in - and she's only been here two weeks! She knows what cabinet her food is in too, so if you open it - even for something else - she goes nuts.


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## PlayfulPup (Aug 8, 2012)

In my quest to learn about spoos, every once in awhile I read a post that scares me. Lol. My first min pin could spell (mostly cheese and out). He was super intelligent but also incredibly manipulative (create a distraction to go steal food- among other things) and I just have to remember poos are not like that! 

Such a cute story though! Thanks for sharing!!!


Sent from my iPhone using PG Free


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