What's the most intelligent thing your pet has ever done?

[True Dough]

Saw the post below, figured we could give it a try here.

Not necessarily intelligent, but remarkable, one time my wife and I owned a German shepherd. We would take her to a trail system a couple of miles from our house and she was able to be off-leash there. Sometimes when she ran too far ahead, we would duck for cover behind trees or bushes. Then she'd have to come back and search for us.

I did this one day while my wife chose to stay at home. I hid so well that Shiloh, our dog, couldn't find me. Instead, she decided to run all the way home (not recommended because she had to cross a busy road to get there).

Anyway, my wife heard scratching at the door. She opened it and saw our dog but no me. She immediately had a panic attack, thinking I must have dropped along the trail system.

Meanwhile, I'd spent about 45 minutes looking for Shiloh and calling her name, not knowing she ran home. My wife showed up with the dog awhile later and we were all happily reunited. But the games of "hide and seek" stopped after that.

[Lovie777]

1. My cat basically knocks at the front door when she's ready to come in.........

my other cat sleeps in the tree I think because she is constantly being attacked by the neighborhood bully, a orange cat.

[Walleye]

2. The most intelligent thing my cat has ever done is take up residence on my back deck. Until I relented and let him come

Live inside

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

3. My cat Orange once got stuck high up in a tree - had the fire dept. come to get him down after about

10 or 12 hours. In the days after I would see him in the back yard, teaching himself how to shimmy up this one tall tree with no cross branches, hang there a second with all four paws and then lower himself back down using hind claws grip on the tree . Each time he would go up a little bit higher and then back down. One day he and the other cat Figgy were running around and in a fit of exuberance Figgy ran up one of the trees quite high and then realized he couldnt get back down. He hung there gripping the tree with all four paws crying pitifully. Orange came to the rescue - he ran up the tree behind Figgy and was meowing encouragement butpoor Figgy was too freaked out. So Orange went back down and then ran up the tree next to the one Figgy was in getting up high enough so Figgy could see and demonstrated several times how to back down. Finally Figgy understood and then I saw him too practicing in the days after. PS PLS NOTE- this was back in the day when people typically let cats run free so dont nobody yell at me!

[Niagara]

4. When I born my parents had a German Shepherd

Upon my mother being released from the hospital, she placed me in an infant seat that sat on the living room floor. This infant seat wasn't made for vehicles or anything since those type of infant safety measures didn't exist back then.

Our German Shepherd came over to investigate me and apparently he decided that I was his baby. He laid right next to me. If anyone moved in my direction he would growl at them.

My parents had to distract him so that they could attend to my infant needs.

[True Dough]

5. Did you get to enjoy some years as a toddler with that dog?

You have any memories of him from your early childhood?

[Niagara]

6. Unfortunately I don't remember him as a toddler

He got hit by a vehicle most likely during a high speed wild critter chase.




I do have a tendency to gravitate towards German Shepherds compared to other breeds. They're all great, it's just German Shepherd's pull my heartstrings.

[True Dough]

7. Sorry to hear that, Niagara

I find the long-haired German shepherds absolutely gorgeous.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

8. Ran away!

[True Dough]

9. I guess

that says something about you as an owner, Floyd!

[Floyd R. Turbo]

10. 😁

[Niagara]

11. That's because you're missing a sock

[Floyd R. Turbo]

17. 😬

[hlthe2b]

12. The next day after I adopted my 6 mo old Aussie/B. collie she barreled past me when she saw one of the

"zillion" wild rabbits outside my door and ran two miles into the open space field nearby. I ran as hard as I could, but it was pre-dawn, and I was afraid the adjoining neighborhoods would go nuts at me waking them with my yelling. I stood out, crying for more than an hour and a half--not sure what to do and was just turning to walk back home when, there she came. She didn't know me but she came back. Smart cookie in my book! Oh, and she's never gone for a rabbit again- instead acting incredibly protective of them.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

13. Our Zee, a female Russian Blue

(passed away on November 22, 2024- yes, still hurts)

use to claim the plastic rings off of the lids of gallon jugs, hold the top of the ring in her teeth and SHOOT IT several feet using her paw on the inside of the ring bottom. LOL!!!! Man, we miss that cutie!

[hunter]

14. The most intelligent dogs we've had have been thieves and escape artists.

That's why our backyard is fenced like a prison.

It's one thing when your dog steals food off your own counter, it's quite another when you hear your dog scratching at the front door holding an entire rotisserie chicken in it's mouth expecting to be praised for bringing home dinner.

When I was a kid we had another very intelligent dog, some kind of border collie mix. One day my sister's parakeet escaped and we all spent hours trying to coax it near, nets in hand, until we lost it entirely. A few hours later I looked out the kitchen window and saw our dog ambling towards the house with the parakeet in her mouth. I figured the parakeet was dead when I opened the door and let her in. She dropped the parakeet on the floor and it was alive, just frozen in terror. An hour or two later the parakeet was back in it's cage carrying on as if nothing had happened.

[Dorothy V]

15. 2 Cases.

Over the decades all our kitties have been rescues. Two of them rescued themselves.
The first one was Little Bit. A stray and obviously pregnant, she cased the house for a couple of weeks or so. She wouldn't let us get too close, but we were always aware of her little face, watching us from the shrubbery. Then one day as I was taking groceries into the house, she darted past me and into the house. Concerned how my indoor kitties would take to her, I sought her out at once. She was hiding behind the sofa. The other kitties seemed OK with the situation, so I left her alone and sure enough, she proceeded to have 5 precious little babies behind the sofa. After she got them weaned she stayed in the house the rest of her life. We found good homes for her babies, having decided that having 14 cats was a bit much. Hard to see them go. We did get her fixed. All our kitties have been spayed or neutered.
Abut two years ago, Trudy the Wart, a feral then aged 3 months or so, just traipsed into the house like she owned the place and has been here ever since. I don't think we tamed her, she tamed herself. From the get-go she has been very loving - and also mighty mischievous. She and Pesky, a seven year old one-eyed girl, are great buddies.

[catbyte]

16. My Siamese cat Yum Yum.

I grew up in the middle of nowhere northern Michigan and went to a one-room school from K - 6th grade and the school was right across the road from my house. . I had a Siamese cat, Yum Yum, who was sitting on our porch one day minding her own business when the mean German Shepard farm dog that lived down the road started approaching our house. It was lunchtime so I was looking out the window of the school and saw the dog heading towards my cat. Upset, I asked the teacher if I could go and rescue Yum Yum, but the dog was too fast. He ran into the yard and straight for Yum Yum. Yum Yum fuzzed out then launched herself on that dog's back like a ninja and started slapping its eyes like a boss. The dog started "yipping" and whining then beat it out of our yard with Yum Yum riding him like a rodeo star on a bucking bronco. All the kids were cheering and screaming by that time, lol. A minute or two later, Yum Yum came strutting back up the road, tail waving in the air, sauntered into our yard, and back onto the porch. I was never so proud of her! And that dog never came into our yard again. I still miss that cat.

[Niagara]

19. catbyte...

As I was reading your detailed recollection about your cat Yum Yum slapping the eyes of the local German Shepherd bully and riding him like a rodeo star on a bucking bronco, I was laughing as I was watching this scene unfold in my imagination.


On a serious note. German Shepherds generally have a high prey drive but it takes the right person and training to help tame that drive. I'm also thrilled to know that your beautiful Yum Yum was able to defend herself like a boss and wasn't seriously injured.


😻

[catbyte]

30. She was a once-in-a-lifetime cat

My folks got her for me on Easter when I was 6. I was an only child so she was my best friend and she despised everybody but me. Everybody else called her the "Ol Dragon. My dad had to make sure she wasn't around if he wanted to yell at me because, if she were within earshot, she would attack him.

The only time I ever annoyed her was when I took up the oboe in the 7th-grade band. She hated that thing. To be fair, oboes sound like a ruptured duck before you get the hang of it. She'd come up while I was practicing and bite the bell of the instrument to express her displeasure. It got to the point where I'd practice only when she was outside or if she were inside, I'd practice in the car, lol. It was a school instrument, so I'm fairly sure that some student is playing that oboe with Yum Yum's tiny little teeth marks on the bell.

[Niagara]

34. Thank you for sharing your enjoyable memories about Yum Yum

Yum Yum certainly had her own personality.

[womanofthehills]

23. I had a cat named Yum Yum too!

The first time I saw my cat MrLucky (a stray) - my dog came running across the yard with Lucky clawed onto his face. Took Lucky 3 months to come into my house & become best buddies with my dog.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

18. My parents' calico cat used to walk...

... around the block with me when I was a child.

She was free to roam outside, probably killing scores of birds and other wild animals out there.

Anyway, she'd run up to me if she saw me alone outside. Then we got into a routine of walking around the block (about a mile) of our suburban neighborhood, with her periodically exploring some area and later catching up with me again. I eventually started to pretend that I was lost during our walks, hesitantly going the wrong way at some intersection and acting confused. That's when she'd stop and loudly meow, as if to say, "Home is this way!" Her tail would proudly stick straight up when I'd finally follow her quickened pace on the sidewalk, like she was my heroine leading me to safety!

I always gave her a kitty treat when we got home again, so maybe that's why she was eager to walk with me?

ALSO...
I was only a baby at that time, but my parents also had an elderly Maine Coon in the 1960's who started to use a toilet instead of his litter box! My father insisted that he barely trained the cat at all! He claimed that he only placed the big cat on a toilet seat after it had an accident next to the litter box, shouting for it to "Go there!" from now on. And it did! I don't remember that cat except for photographs of it laying next to and on top of me, bigger than my baby-body! It was supposedly very protective of me.

[Marthe48]

20. So many good stories!

I enjoyed reading them.

We adopted a black kitten who grew into the biggest kitty we've ever had. He was the best non-verbal communicator I've ever seen. If I dropped a pill on the floor, he'd spot it for me and stare at it till I picked it up. He was kind of a neat freak, because he'd stare at anything that was on the floor that wasn't supposed to be there-alternately stare at the item, then stare at me judgementally, until I picked up the item. We kept the basement door open so the kitties could get to their litter boxes and have as much space as possible to roam. They were 100% indoor. We had a recently installed outside door in the basement that would blow open if a storm came from the northwest. The first time it happened, we had 2 cats, our big boy and a furry Manx girl. She was his pet, and they both knew it. When I got up and was making coffee, the black kitty was acting very strangely, staring at me, staring at the basement steps and blocking the Manx girl's effort to get downstairs. She would always try to get outside, like some kind of wild child. I finally sensed a difference in the air flow and went down to look around. The door was open. I got it shut and blocked, realizing that my smart boy had alerted me to the problem, and prevented his girl from getting out. After that, I would check after every storm, and found it open once more.

I miss both of those kitties. They were the best.

[True Dough]

21. They sound like a great tandem, Marthe

That male was looking out for his little Manx.

[Marthe48]

22. They were

After all the bragging about the boy cat, my husband once noticed the Manx lying under our vintage music stand. There was a beam of sunlight, not quite shining on her, and she scratched the music stand where the sun was shining, trying to pull the sunbeam over her. She did that many times. lol

We had them a long time, my big boy lived to be 17 and our Manx lived to be 21 or 22. She just died last May, end of an era.

I think their names are still part of who knows how many passwrods or security answers!

[True Dough]

24. I'm sure that's true for a lot of pet owners

We too have used their names at times in various passwords. You'd think that some underhanded veterinarians would be able to access their clients' bank accounts online with that "inside" knowledge.

[Marthe48]

25. Nefarious veterinarians!

That would be a good name for a rock band! lol

[True Dough]

27. Yes, it would be!

With their hits 'Dine & Dachshund', 'Inappropriate Pinschers' and 'Whippet, Whippet Good'.

[Marthe48]

28. lol

You are so quick!

[DBoon]

26. our dog briefly terrified a dog sitter

She showed up for his twice daily walk and meal. He was nowhere to be found in the back yard.

She eventually found our dog in the front yard.

He had pulled the grating off the crawl space, went under the house to the front, and push out the grill to the front yard.

We now have latching grates on our crawl space.

Note: in Los Angeles, homes generally do not have basements. We have crawl spaces - just big enough for plumbers to work if lying down.

[True Dough]

31. Just big enough for plumbers to work if lying down.

And just big enough for your boy to use for his disappearing act.

[bif]

29. My Abyssinian cat Lizzie fetches.

She used to do it all the time. Now, pretty much only when she feels like it. Of she wants a treat! She'll also jump up on my shoulder when I pat it and say "Up!"

[Bayard]

32. My beloved Borzoi, Jazzy, was a vegetable critic

I was sorting garden veges on the back porch one day when I lived in Calif. Jazz sidled up to the table, and from the corner of my eye, I saw her nose over a piece of okra till she could pick it up and leave. She taste tested it, and it did not pass. She brought it back and pushed it back on the table again.

I SO miss that pupster!

[True Dough]

33. Ha! But you know what, Bayard?

The Borzoi is one of the breeds I've yet to meet in real life. I've only seen pictures.

How many years did you get to enjoy with her?

[Bayard]

39. Six years before I lost her to cancer

She was intelligent, beautiful, and loving. I'd really like to have another one but Sighthounds and cats don't mix very well.

[GardenGnome]

35. My first dog...

was an Australian shepherd mix. Patches. Smart as they came. One day, we were visiting a friend and happened to arrive just as she was giving her dog a cooked beef bone. My friend apologized that she only had the one and this was the time her dog always got her treat. Her dog retreated into a far corner to gnaw on the bone. As we stood on the opposite side of the room talking, Patches came up and demanded attention. Since she didn't get a treat, we both fussed over her. Seeing Patches getting attention, my friend's dog came over and demanded some pets, too. The instant she arrived, Patches whipped around her, darted across the room, and grabbed the bone. Clearly, her plan had been plotted in advance and perfectly executed.

[True Dough]

36. I have witnessed similar behavior in a few dogs in our neighborhood

Last edited Sun Mar 2, 2025, 04:14 PM - Edit history (1)

One has a "prized" toy or ball that the others want. So one of the others finds another ball or toy and parades around with it like it's an even bigger prize. After not too long, the first dog will drop the coveted ball or toy in favor of the decoy. Then one of the other dogs scoops up the ball/toy that they really wanted.

Conversely, years ago while walking to work, I saw someone's dog chained up with a bowl of kibble next to him. A few crows were displaying exemplary teamwork and guile. One would hop around on the ground, close to the dog, but just out of reach of its chain. The dog would make a valiant effort to get the crow. Meanwhile, the other two crows would swoop in and grab some kibble out of the dish and fly off and eat it. Then a minute or two later, the scene would repeat itself.

I couldn't hang around long enough to watch it all play out, but I wondered if that dog tasted any of its kibble that day or if the crows got it all.

[GardenGnome]

37. Who would have thought that animals would con each other

And steal their valuables. Hmmm.

[Codifer]

38. When Fleasle was a

about 3 months old, wife and I took her outside for her evening relief. It had been windy that day and just at the steps to the circle I saw a leaf that had been trapped by a strand of spider web. Flea saw it too. She stared at it suspended there; no visible means of support. She barkingly damn sure that the leaf obey the law of gravity like everything else. But the leaf remained, un-moving, about three feet above her head.

Perhaps that is intelligence.... I don;t know. It was sure some sort of awareness of normal and abnormal.

I wish she were that young again.

[True Dough]

40. Curious

about how you came up with Fleasle? That's a new one to me.

[Codifer]

41. Her full name is Fiona.

That became "Fi Fi" but I would be danged if I had a border collie named "Fi Fi". So, for me her name morphed first to "Fee" and then to "Flea" and Then to "Fleasle"'

I always think of "The Sound of Music" when I call her that.

[True Dough]

42. I'd be willing to bet that's the story of the majority of pets

They start out with one name but wind up with several iterations of nicknames. Definitely true for us.