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Scary Poodle Smarts!

818 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Prp134
Do you have some stories to share about your poodle's startling intelligence or intuition?

At 23 weeks, Peggy's surprising us more and more every day.

Today it was in the master bedroom, a rare place for me to let her explore. She went straight to my beloved old girl Gracie's little bed, which still sits in the corner since she passed in July.

In the bed was Gracie's favourite red ball. "Uh oh! Here comes a struggle," I thought. "She's never giving that up."

Peggy, as expected, immediately picked up the ball and continued exploring the room with it in her mouth. She poked her head in the closet, sniffed under my bed, nudged a dust bunny or two, and then I moved towards the door and said, "Okay, Peggy! Time to go!"

Well. She trotted over to the corner and put Gracie's ball BACK in Gracie's bed!!!! And then casually joined me at the door as though she'd done nothing special at all.

I'm still looking at her with wonder in my eyes.
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Wow. That is truly amazing.


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Peggy is very sweet.

Mr. Layne picked up on something that's quite sweet. For most of my life I have had horrible time sleeping. Insomnia x 100 is how my doctor described it. My husband has seen me go without sleep long enough that I'm pretty much a looney bird. A couple hours for 3-4 days. I'm way better now that I'm semi retired & can just adjust to whatever whackadoodle sleep issue I'm having. But Mr. Layne picked up on the problem very quickly. If I let him in from outside & I say, "naptime" he loads up in his crate next to my bedside & will just wait for me to get in there & close the door (for safety so he doesn't get into something when I sleep). Well the other day I'd been up/or awake every hour. I was really tired & a bit out of it. He came to me, bumped me, went to his nap crate, if I didn't come that way he'd trot back in & mouth my hand & look at me like 'come on'. I finally told my husband, "honey, the poodle says I need a nap" to which he responded "go take one" & I followed Mr. Layne into the bedroom. I sat down on the side of the bed, then he came out, bumped me with his nose like, "hey, Mom, you gotta shut my door, remember?" I got up & he went in but I got a slurp & gave him a nose smooch before I shut his door.

I thought that was pretty sweet & extremely knowing of him.
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Wow. That is truly amazing.


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She did it again today, totally unprompted!!! Wandered in to say hi to me, picked up Gracie's ball, carried it around for a minute, and then put it back in Gracie's bed.

Of course I burst into tears.

This poodle, my goodness.... Tests our patience and then knocks our socks off.
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Peggy is very sweet.

Mr. Layne picked up on something that's quite sweet. For most of my life I have had horrible time sleeping. Insomnia x 100 is how my doctor described it. My husband has seen me go without sleep long enough that I'm pretty much a looney bird. A couple hours for 3-4 days. I'm way better now that I'm semi retired & can just adjust to whatever whackadoodle sleep issue I'm having. But Mr. Layne picked up on the problem very quickly. If I let him in from outside & I say, "naptime" he loads up in his crate next to my bedside & will just wait for me to get in there & close the door (for safety so he doesn't get into something when I sleep). Well the other day I'd been up/or awake every hour. I was really tired & a bit out of it. He came to me, bumped me, went to his nap crate, if I didn't come that way he'd trot back in & mouth my hand & look at me like 'come on'. I finally told my husband, "honey, the poodle says I need a nap" to which he responded "go take one" & I followed Mr. Layne into the bedroom. I sat down on the side of the bed, then he came out, bumped me with his nose like, "hey, Mom, you gotta shut my door, remember?" I got up & he went in but I got a slurp & gave him a nose smooch before I shut his door.

I thought that was pretty sweet & extremely knowing of him.
What a good boy he is!! Wow. What an honour to be known so well by a dog.
Peggy, as expected, immediately picked up the ball and continued exploring the room with it in her mouth. She poked her head in the closet, sniffed under my bed, nudged a dust bunny or two, and then I moved towards the door and said, "Okay, Peggy! Time to go!"

Well. She trotted over to the corner and put Gracie's ball BACK in Gracie's bed!!!! And then casually joined me at the door as though she'd done nothing special at all.

I'm still looking at her with wonder in my eyes.
Our late poodle used to put her toys away when she was done playing with them, most of the time that is. If she was interrupted and failed to put the toy back, she wouldn't even try to look for it the next time she wanted it. She would just stand and stare first at the toy pile, then at me, then back at the toy pile until I went and found the missing toy. I was her search and rescue human.
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Peggy, as expected, immediately picked up the ball and continued exploring the room with it in her mouth. She poked her head in the closet, sniffed under my bed, nudged a dust bunny or two, and then I moved towards the door and said, "Okay, Peggy! Time to go!"

Well. She trotted over to the corner and put Gracie's ball BACK in Gracie's bed!!!! And then casually joined me at the door as though she'd done nothing special at all.

I'm still looking at her with wonder in my eyes.
Our late poodle used to put her toys away when she was done playing with them, most of the time that is. If she was interrupted and failed to put the toy back, she wouldn't even try to look for it the next time she wanted it. She would just stand and stare first at the toy pile, then at me, then back at the toy pile until I went and found the missing toy. I was her search and rescue human.
Ha! That is so funny. She sure trained you well ?

Peggy's never put a toy away before, but what a wonderful behaviour that would be to encourage! If only I could get her to deal with my heaps of clean laundry, too.
I got Zekefur at 13 weeks old. Within 3 weeks he figured out something that I never would have thought of. I'd eat a lot of the clementine oranges, and he loved carrying around a piece of the skin. So I'd give it to him, and he'd happily just walk around with it. Well, one day, he put his feet up on my chair and gave it back. I handed it back to him, and once again he laid it on the chair, but this time, he longingly looked at my orange. I asked him if he was trading with me for a slice. From that day on,, if I'm eating in my chair, he brings me his toys, one by one, to trade out for little bites of food. The most I've had in my lap at one time is 9 toys... that was for peanut butter I think. He still does it, and he always starts with his favorite toys. It is the cutest, most endearing thing I think I've had a dog do... and dang it, the smartest as he came up with it all on his own!
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No idea how my mini learned the command “go to sleep”

He usually just goes to sleep on his own around 10ish. He’ll be running around like a madman one minute and next thing he’ll be walking into my room to lay on his bed.

Well yesterday, I was especially tired and wanted to go to bed early. So I took him on his walk and gave him a snack. We played a bit and then I looked at him and said “ok, go to sleep” and right away he walked into the room
and laid on his bed ?

Mind you, never taught him the phrase “go to sleep” there was never any treat luring for him to lay on his bed when I said the phrase. I was very surprised that he picked up on all the cues that that is what I wanted him to do.
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