Chances are that if you’re reading this, you’re aware that dogs are awfully intelligent animals. But did you know that they are smarter than the people who write this blog?Amanda and I brought home a couple of new rubber balls for the pooches tonight. One was an original OrbeeTuff Orbee Ball and the other was the OrbeeTuff Snowball. We plan to test them out as fetching toys as well as gauge their durability and decided to let the dogs choose which one would be “their” ball for the play session.
When we play fetch with both dogs at the same time, we’ve found that it helps if they each have their own toy to retrieve. Since Haven has a smaller mouth than Beacon, Haven tends to prefer smaller toys for fetching since it’s difficult for her to grab a large toy in midair. Beacon has no trouble with this and seems to like these big toys.
Ever curious, we set both of the new balls on the kitchen floor to see which one each dog would choose. Being such smart humans we wisely concluded that Beacon would go for the much larger Orbee Ball while Haven would select the small Snowball. Additionally the Snowball has a minty smell to it and Haven loves the smell of our dental floss (she likes to lick the residue off of our fingers!) so our predictions seemed pretty close to a sure thing.
Beacon lived up to our prediction – he trotted straight over to the large Orbee Ball, snatched it up in his big mouth and trotted away happily. Then we put the balls back in place and let Haven have a turn. She walked over to the Orbee Ball, sniffed it, then turned and picked up the Snowball. We were correct on both counts!
Or not. After grabbing the Snowball, Haven then turned back to the Orbee Ball and somehow stuffed it into her mouth along with the Snowball! Haven ran off to the family room, clearly very pleased with her haul and leaving us humans in the dunce corner.
Of course a dog would choose more than one! Wouldn’t a child do the same thing? Take both toys, not just one. Not only are dogs like Beacon smart enough to recognize that bigger toys are generally reserved for him, dogs like Haven are smart enough to realize that two toys are better than one. Amanda and I hadn’t thought about that option and Haven made us feel like fools.
Next time you set up an experiment for your dog, prepare to be surprised! Your dog may be very smart, even smarter than you.
That’s really funny. My Chihuahua, Sissy will take two bones. Her’s and my other dog Jonesy’s. Jonesy will put three “cookies” in his mouth at the same time. I would say that my dogs are more greedy than smart.
Cute! Dogs certainly can be greedy, but so are we.