Saturday, September 8, 2012

ARGH!!!

So it's been a while hasn't it?  Well my camera got stolen and on it was all the cool pictures of stuff I wanted to blog about.  Also I have been too busy to go out and get a new camera so blog posts have been lacking because I assume you readers would rather have posts with cute puppies in them than these text based monstrosities.  Well today I do have something to talk about that needs no pictures and I really want some input- so feel free to share with me your personal experiences.  It is about dogs carrying around toys.

I know dogs who carry toys around with them so that they will have them to play with.  For instance some dogs carry a toy into their crate at night.  I have a friend whose dogs each take a prized toy with them to the car when they are going for a ride.  More recently I have a foster dog named George who carrys things around to play with all the time.  If I go upstairs he will pick up a kong and bring it with him to chew.  He also has discovered "self fetch" where he throws the kong down the stairs and then catches it while it is bouncing around at the bottom.  Here the thing about it- my dogs don't do that.  If I go upstairs they just stand around up there looking bored.  Or they will go down to the toy box and play with something there.  Lets say I give them bully sticks- they just drop where I put the stick and chew there.  Is this strange?  I never thought about this before George was around and suddenly dog toys started appearing upstairs.  All of them were transported by George so he would have something to do up there.

Is George just really smart- smarter than Copley and Kerri?  Depends on how you define smart.  When it comes to complicated puzzles and situations Kerri certainly is the smartest dog in the house that way- by leaps and bounds.  George reminds me of a boxer (even though he is a pug mix)- goofy, lovable and fun.  He has learned sit/down/stay and mind manners quickly but I don't think he is one of those dogs who will be retrieving the "red triangle" from the pile of colored objects if you know what I mean.  That's kinda the best part of dogs though.  They are so different from us that they can really demonstrate how smarts can be measured in different ways.  "Don't judge a fish by its ability to run a marathon"- or something like that was said by someone famous.*  Using that logic Copley should be judged by his interpersonal skills with other dogs and ability to raise well rounded puppies.  Kerrigan should be judged by her problem solving skills and great athletic ability.  Finally I guess George should be judged on his ability to think into the future and carry toys to places where he wants them later so he will never be bored.

So back to the task at hand.  Dogs carrying toys around?  Yes/No?  Are Copley and Kerri crazy?  Is this normal?  Do you live in the Las Vegas area and want to adopt George????? Discuss.

*"Don't judge an Annie by her ability to remember famous quotes or who said them."

5 comments:

  1. Only Nola will bring certain toys with her if I go outside or leave the room (any other time she just leaves what she had). She'll also bring bones or bully sticks with her when I move. She figured out (before I had to throw her Kong out because she chewed it to bits) that if she threw her Kong against the wall it was a fun game!
    I totally get the different levels and types of intelligence. Overall, Nola is my smartest dog. She's very athletic and aware of her body (not like my klutzy boy!), LOVES to learn, is so emotionally in tune with me it's almost scary and she figures out puzzles. Which is why free shaping works so well with her.
    But my male is the smartest the way a Dachshund is "suppose" to be. His tracking skills are stellar!
    I also don't think breed intelligence should be judged solely on how well the dog works under human direction. What about terriers and hounds that are bred to basically work without human direction?
    Nola's Mom

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    1. Destroyed a kong? We destroy everything around here and the original kong is the one thing that we have had forever, not even any cracks! One thing I have found is that puppy teeth DESTROY the red and black kongs- so if you have a puppy with puppy teeth still you need to have the puppy kongs. It is a little counter intuitive because you would think the black would be the strongest but it is just stronger for pressure- it is actually worse for puncturing. Then dogs with strong jaws will rip apart the puppy kongs. But all adults in the house my red kongs last forever (going on 2 years for the one I hid when Kerri was a puppy). And I agree with you- I love a lot of the asian hunting breeds and people say they are hard to train. I say hard to train to do what? Cause I am pretty sure they would be experts at flushing birds in the snow.

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  2. This post is hysterical. I don't really have an answer for you about the carrying around of the toys, but the next time I adopt someone, I'm going to make sure she's one of those fancy self-fetching dogs. That is pretty awesome.

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    1. My only hope is that George teaches one of my dogs to self fetch. It is very convenient for me.

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  3. Love the post! HATE that your camera was stolen! Boo! :-(

    I look forward to reading your blog! Nice to meet you!

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