Canine intelligence

Nothing much going on; trees and birds but then outcomes the squirrel below; see Luke's ears raise?




















Dogs are smart; really smart. They are actually far more intelligent than we think they are and even me who thinks that they are amazingly smart; am sometimes blown away by them. One of the smartest dogs that we have ever had is Luke. When I say this my kids usually laugh; yes Luke is a goof, nervous, easily excitable and a bit high strung but his intelligence is way up there.

Luke is a tv watcher, he is a watcher of most things and nothing gets past this boy. I have told many people how he watches documentary shows with us through their entirety but I'm not sure if they understand how he watches completely, he is not a casual glancers like many other dogs. Yes he looks at the tv if a dog barks but he watches the show through the lulls and the high points and his ears let me know this that he is paying close attention to the show.

Luke has his spot where he typically lays after all of his toy destruction in the evening. Once he has fulfilled his beastly wrecking mode he settles in to watch some tv. He doesn't watch shows like American Idol, House or any trivial type show he watches animal documentaries, dog shows, training shows etc. It must have animals in it or he won't watch it; very much like his Mother. ;)

The above shots of him were taken lastnight; we were watching a documentary on Yellowstone Park. He was watching with little interest until a squirrel came on the scene. His ears were going up and down as the squirrel moved around and once it was gone, ears down again. He loved the part with the Bison fighting, he watched as the wolves took down and ate an Elk and all of the other parts that had animal highlights.

I have to admit he is a remarkable dog; I am very surprised by the length of time he will watch. And every so often when the show gets really exciting he will get up and try to sniff the animal on the screen. He is the definition of a dog by my side.