Seriously? Just look at my dogs and say 'Outside', and tell me they don't know what I'm saying.

More like "Obvious" I would think. Oh hey, the apex predator is looking at something... I wonder if I should pay attention to what it does, and where it looks, because that information might be of survival interest to me?

Lucky LaRue: Dogs lick their butts to clean them! Are you telling me that someone thinks they are smart enough to tell when a human is talking to them directly?!

Signed, Mr. Fuzzy-paws

Dogs also lick their crotch. Pffttt if most humans could do that, we would only get up to occasionally bathe and take on nutrients.

I had a black lab named Sparky, the dog was almost human, we spoke to him all the time, he knew what we were saying and would respond accordingly, Some dogs have a higher degree on intelligence than any of the Rebublican nominees.

I believe for any dog owner this conclusion would be pretty obvious.

A better question: Are cat's really stupid or huge assholes?

darkhorse23: Seriously? Just look at my dogs and say 'Outside', and tell me they don't know what I'm saying.

THIS

Chloe does a little jump/hop thing when I say "outside" to her.



/with a helpful pic of what a dog outside might look like
//Best.Dog.Evar.

GuyFawkes: darkhorse23: Seriously? Just look at my dogs and say 'Outside', and tell me they don't know what I'm saying.

THIS

Chloe does a little jump/hop thing when I say "outside" to her.

[img718.imageshack.us image 604x403]

/with a helpful pic of what a dog outside might look like
//Best.Dog.Evar.

Is that a puggle?

buck1138: A better question: Are cat's really stupid or huge assholes?

I have 3 cats I work for, they let me stay with them,

MoronLessOff: GuyFawkes: darkhorse23: Seriously? Just look at my dogs and say 'Outside', and tell me they don't know what I'm saying.

THIS

Chloe does a little jump/hop thing when I say "outside" to her.

[img718.imageshack.us image 604x403]

/with a helpful pic of what a dog outside might look like
//Best.Dog.Evar.

Is that a puggle?

Sure is! She turned six on 7/20/11, and I am still waiting for her puppy energy to slow her down!

/sheds like a maniac
//blind in one eye, synthetic lens in the other (cataract surgery years ago)
///crazy expensive - worth every penny

When you say the word Food/Feed or outside around my dog he jumps up and either heads to the door or the food bowl (depending upon the word spoken.) Started spelling the word Food/Feed to my son (since it's responsibility to feed the dog) and now the dog knows what the spelled word means as well (heads to the food bowl every time).

GuyFawkes: MoronLessOff: GuyFawkes: darkhorse23: Seriously? Just look at my dogs and say 'Outside', and tell me they don't know what I'm saying.

THIS

Chloe does a little jump/hop thing when I say "outside" to her.

[img718.imageshack.us image 604x403]

/with a helpful pic of what a dog outside might look like
//Best.Dog.Evar.

Is that a puggle?

Sure is! She turned six on 7/20/11, and I am still waiting for her puppy energy to slow her down!

/sheds like a maniac
//blind in one eye, synthetic lens in the other (cataract surgery years ago)
///crazy expensive - worth every penny

Awesome. A buddy of mine had one. I didn't get to see it much, but she seemed like a sweetheart.

I agree with the "outside" bit. Same goes for "inside" after a trip to the yard.
/Shi-tzu-ish mutt in my house. She looks like an ewok.

RoxtarRyan: Puppy before (3 weeks or so)
[fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net image 300x225]

Puppy now (4 months)
[fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net image 320x240]

Smart as heck. Tells me when he needs to go outside, understands his name versus the other pet, and knows when I'm talking to him, or someone else in the house.

My chocolate lab is the same way. He'll stand at the door to go out, stand in front of the fridge for water, stand at his bowl for food. When he wants a hug, he'll sit down and raise his paw, then paw at me until I'm hugging him. Except when I get home from work. If he doesn't make himself into a bullet directly for my crotch, he stands on his hind legs and hugs me like a normal person.....with claws. I think i still have the scratches on my neck from a few nights ago.

/He actually crushed my knee tendons into the bone last weekend.
//My bad knee.

Bichon's are notoriously stupid and hard to train, but mine sure as hell knew what "do you want to go for a ride?" meant, or anything insinuating a car ride.

My Dog, a Pug, is smarter than 50% of the voters in America. Really. And, for God's sake, she's slurping Derp.

Smeggy Smurf: He's a good kitty. I just wish he wouldn't jump on my lap while I'm on the shiatter.

Mine likes to crawl down my pantlegs or claw the shiat out of my underwear when I'm in the bathroom. Cats are definitely strange creatures

I'd say ours understand a dozen words or so each. They all have "walk time", treat, etc down and understand that "DOG!" means that whatever they are doing, stops, now!

MoronLessOff:
Awesome. A buddy of mine had one. I didn't get to see it much, but she seemed like a sweetheart.

I agree with the "outside" bit. Same goes for "inside" after a trip to the yard.
/Shi-tzu-ish mutt in my house. She looks like an ewok.


Yeah, Chloe loves people - if there is a lap available she will take it. I couldn't imagine life without her - we did a walk across the Triboro Bridge last month to Wards Island Park - she loved it.

/she's extremely OCD
//but the giant eyes sold me as soon as I saw her

Smeggy Smurf: buck1138: A better question: Are cat's really stupid or huge assholes?

I have 3 of them.

One is a cowardly, fat shiathead with brain damage. He's dumb, worthless but highly entertaining as he suddenly takes off at full speed right into something solid.

Another is the mouthiest little biatch you could get. She also is easily shamed by reminding her that she poops. This cat is smart but too lazy to do anything with it.

The other one is the most lovable, obnoxiously lovable, jump in your lap and hold on (thus the name of Velcro) fuzzball of love you could imagine. He's not smart, he's not an asshole, he just loves. He's a good kitty. I just wish he wouldn't jump on my lap while I'm on the shiatter.

I once had a cat that acted just like a dog. We got it as a kitten and my lab barked at it for two weeks straight doing what I am sure was some pretty severe emotional damage. After that it would play with the dog when they thought no one was watching. He would run up trees and kill squirls. I watched him scare a sizable possum out of our yard. I assume my experience was unique so I tell people I've never had a cat.

Kaeishiwaza: I believe for any dog owner this conclusion would be pretty obvious.

For that matter it should be obvious to any scientist. This has been researched before - and in more depth - so I figured it was old news.

FTA: The social environment in which pack animals like dogs - and primates - live requires that each member of the group have at least some awareness of what the others are paying attention to.

And actually research shows that primates actually aren't very good at this at all. In one test there are two boxes and one hides food and the human points to one. The chimp is hard pressed to associate the pointing with help. But it's instantly obvious to a dog. IIRC they also tested wild wolves and even they did better than the primates, but I can't find a link to the study to verify.


darkhorse23: Seriously? Just look at my dogs and say 'Outside', and tell me they don't know what I'm saying.

I once had a friend ask, in a flat tone of voice but using the dog's name, "What's in the woods?" The dogs ears instantly perked up and off he pranced off to see.

Mine understands park, treat, car, walk, and outside, along with the usual commands. She also does the weirdest thing when she wants to go out. Instead of staring out the glass door, she stares into the fireplace.

DrippinBalls: My Dog, a Pug, is smarter than 50% of the voters in America. Really. And, for God's sake, she's slurping Derp.

Same here. I like to tell people he's smart for a pug, but then again pugs are dumb.

darkhorse23: Seriously? Just look at my dogs and say 'Outside', and tell me they don't know what I'm saying.

Yeah ...I think this article deserves the obvious tag.

Though, I could have expressed it with such long winded terminology.

RoxtarRyan: Puppy before (3 weeks or so)

You are begging for a "puppy off"

sweetest puppy I have ever seen (of course he is mine): Link (new window)

here he is all grown up with my other puppy: Link (new window)


/don't have kids ..have to settle for puppy pictures.

Our fuzzy German Shepherd came home at 4 weeks after her mother rejected the litter. She was a small critter and would hide under furniture from where she would dart out and get stteped on, specially during nightime. So anyhoo, we put a little bell on her collar to keep track of her. It took the biatch three days to figure out how to walk without ringing the bell.

Mine used to, doesn't any more. She is deaf now. But she still tell when you are talking to her, just isn't as good with the commands anymore. If she can see your face then she knows when I say sit. But if I cover it or look away and say sit, she will not.

GuyFawkes: if there is a lap available she will take it

That's what I love most about my little dog. Unless she really wants to go to bed, she'll find a lap to sit in. She'll bring toys right to my feet when she's ready to play. Otherwise, she hunts the cat.

/my first dog.

bhcompy: Mine likes to crawl down my pantlegs or claw the shiat out of my underwear when I'm in the bathroom. Cats are definitely strange creatures

You shiat in your underwear?

J/k.

Cats are really smart, but they always test their boundaries. At least mine does. After 6 months he finally knows I'm the alpha, but every once in a while he'll find some way to screw with the status quo just to see if he can't get a little power back. Anyone who says cats are a calming influence is full of toxoplasmotic poop.

Oh, and I still haven't tried that lipstick thing.

mercator_psi: bhcompy: Mine likes to crawl down my pantlegs or claw the shiat out of my underwear when I'm in the bathroom. Cats are definitely strange creatures

You shiat in your underwear?

J/k.

Cats are really smart, but they always test their boundaries. At least mine does. After 6 months he finally knows I'm the alpha, but every once in a while he'll find some way to screw with the status quo just to see if he can't get a little power back. Anyone who says cats are a calming influence is full of toxoplasmotic poop.

Oh, and I still haven't tried that lipstick thing.

I refuse to try the lipstick thing. Ignorance is bliss.

Curses. I should have known better than to read a dog thread.

It'll be the one year anniversary of my dog's death this weekend.

It's got incredibly dusty in here.

There is more to it than mere survival and pack dynamics. I watched the Nova special "Dogs Decoded. Canine genetic code is very malleable and for 14000 years they have been bred to be a symbiotic species with us. They really do read humans like a human does and respond. They tracked dog's eye movement in reading facial expression and found they read faces the same way we read faces, for instance.

(They also found one dog that could recognize something like 350 words and respond appropriately to them.)

On the flip side, petting your pet dog spurs the production of the same bonding chemicals in your brain that holding a baby does.

TheManWho: Curses. I should have known better than to read a dog thread.

It'll be the one year anniversary of my dog's death this weekend.

It's got incredibly dusty in here.

:( I'm sorry.

RogueVortex: RoxtarRyan: Puppy before (3 weeks or so)
[fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net image 300x225]

Puppy now (4 months)
[fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net image 320x240]

Smart as heck. Tells me when he needs to go outside, understands his name versus the other pet, and knows when I'm talking to him, or someone else in the house.

My chocolate lab is the same way. He'll stand at the door to go out, stand in front of the fridge for water, stand at his bowl for food. When he wants a hug, he'll sit down and raise his paw, then paw at me until I'm hugging him. Except when I get home from work. If he doesn't make himself into a bullet directly for my crotch, he stands on his hind legs and hugs me like a normal person.....with claws. I think i still have the scratches on my neck from a few nights ago.

/He actually crushed my knee tendons into the bone last weekend.
//My bad knee.

Apparently we have the same dog down to the chocolate part. He is not one of my kids but damn if I don't put him right up there with my feelings for him.

TheManWho: Curses. I should have known better than to read a dog thread.

It'll be the one year anniversary of my dog's death this weekend.

It's got incredibly dusty in here.

Sorry for your loss, I've been there :(

There are many furry friends waiting to be adopted.

there their theyre: Mine used to, doesn't any more. She is deaf now. But she still tell when you are talking to her, just isn't as good with the commands anymore. If she can see your face then she knows when I say sit. But if I cover it or look away and say sit, she will not.

We accompany our commands with hand gestures. It will help if they lose hearing when they get older... also helps when we want to be quiet.

Sit = Point down
Lay Down = Flat hand parallel with floor moving down.
Come = Basic come here hand movement. (only seems to work indoors)
Get Your Toy = Two cupped hands together.
Up = Tap chest with both hands repeatedly
Outside = Grab leash :P

Wonder if similar commands are used on working dogs for the deaf...

I keep my dog's treats on top of the fridge. The exterior door is also in the kitchen. Whenever he wants to go out or have a treat, he sits in the kitchen and I ask "What do you want?". If he wants to go out, he turns his head to the door. If he wants a snack, he looks at the top of the fridge. I never directly trained him to do either of those things, its just something we do.

He also knows the pizza delivery guy is coming as soon as I grab the menu. He stands on the couch and stares out of the window until he arrives.

Every night at 7:20, without fail, he has what we call his "mid-meal pee". He eats half his dinner, then stares at the door to go out. He then comes in and finishes his meal. Again, not something I trained him to do, just something that we do every. single. night.

He also knows the "turn off" sound of the Xbox and and runs to the door with his ball because I usually turn it off when my wife gets home....Pavlov's science in action. If I turn it off when she's already home, he goes upstairs to bed because thats where I'm usually headed too.

He's also a shameful, shameful garbage picker.




/The flooring in my kitchen is older than most farkers