I have had smart dogs before. Penny, my beloved Shetland Sheepdog, was so smart that I used to swear she could read my mind. She knew a number of off the wall commands like, “Penny, I’m cold” which just meant that she needed to get up and cuddle closer on cold winter nights. Maverick is smart but in a lovely, gentle, regular-dog kind of way. He’s obedient and fun and remembers to do what he’s told more often than not, but he’s not going to win any science fairs if you know what I mean. Clark, Indiana’s son, was so smart he would jump in my window and get my pillows so that he could take them back out through the window and sleep on them. (Indiana is so stupid his doggy IQ is in the negative numbers, but that’s a whole other story.)
Harley is a freak. Harley is so smart it literally weirds me out. It took him a little over a week to learn to roll over on command, but it took less than a week for him to learn to shake hands, speak, sit up and beg, walk on his hind legs and dance on his hind legs. Each weeknight for one week he learned a new command. It got to the point that we were running out of tricks to teach him.
Earlier today Mom asked me how I would teach him how to play dead. I rolled Harley over on his back, told him “Play Dead” and gave him some praise. I told Mom, “that’s how.”
Tonight, we were running through his list of tricks while I fed him itty bitty pieces of cat food. Mom said, “Tell him to play dead.” So, I did… and he did!
I had never shown him other than the two second demonstration I gave her earlier, but he remembered and did it, not just once, but over and over. Ok, that is an-alien-who-only-looks-like-a-dog-mated-with-your-doggy’s-mama kind of smart! I once read a book with that subject (great book) and one of the signs that the dog was half alien was that it would wind its rope around a tree and then unwind it. Harley does that, too. I’m telling you, it’s not a coincidence.
He isn’t even a year old yet and he’s already smarter than most men. If this keeps up he’s going to bypass even some of the women I know. In another year or two he could even get as smart as I am… nah, no male could ever do that.
Wow, that’s crazy awesome. I’ve never had a dog learn a trick *that* fast. Then again, I don’t have tons and tons of training experience.
wooooo, crazy smart dog! hehe