Is one of your dogs smarter than the others in the pack?

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

Do you have one dog who outsmarts everyone else in the pack, including the humans? My Lilo knows exactly how to get Rocky to go to where she wants him, be it vacating the couch, getting something he has that she wants, or beating him back to me, knowing that he is faster. She's just a lot smarter than he is, and also manages to outsmart all the other dogs who visit us... and sometimes, she outsmarts us humans too ! I've never had a dog before who could actually calculate the consequences of her actions step by step the way Lilo does, and intentionally trick others into doing what she wants them to do.

Example 1: There's a dog on the pillow and she wants his spot. So she goes over to the patio door and pretends to want out; the dog on the pillow gets up to follow her, and as soon as we open the door, dog 2 steps outside and Lilo runs over to the pillow. Of course dog 2 is 100% clueless that he just got tricked...

Example 2: Dog 2 has a toy that Lilo wants. So she picks up a tennis ball, and drops it at the feet of dog 2, wagging her tail and pretending to want to play with him. He drops the toys and picks up the ball; Lilo quickly picks up the toy, and runs aways with it. Dog 2 again is clueless about what just happened.

Example 3: Lilo wants to cuddle with me in the bed, but my husband is there, and she knows he wouldn't approve. So she starts to bark, and Rocky soon follows. My husband thinks the dogs need to go out to pee and gets out of bed. Rocky follows him downstairs and goes outside, while Lilo jumps into bed with me and snuggles up...

Would love to hear if anyone else has a cunning dog like that!!!

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I am cracking up! She does seem to KNOW what she's doing. My female is also very smart and usually gets her way with human and doodle, alike. Your Lilo seems lke a real character.

[Adina P]

Lilo is a smarty pants! Love the stories/examples! She must be hilarious to watch at times :-)

Thule beats Rosco in the smarts department hands down! The one example I can think of, is when Rosco gets one of his bones or balls stuck under the couch. Thule could be way across the room doing her own thing… But as soon as I go to retrieve Rosco's ball she's ready to go! I should explain. I usually use Clark's old cane (he had an injured hip for which he had surgery and at one point had to use a cane) to retrieve balls from under the couch. So what Thule does is she figures out where the ball will pop out and gets ready to get it herself. While my dopey Rosco sits by me and waits for the ball.

[LeAnn, Lucy & Rusty!!]

ROFLMAO that is FUNNY!!! When Jag and Lucy both had bones.. Lucy always wanted Jag's bone.. she'd lay down.. then slowly crawl towards him... she'd lick his face.. and he'd growl.. she'd roll over on her back and look like "what?? me?? I don't want that old bone I just want give you kisses" and she'd go right back to licking his face and lay her head on his feet. Eventually, he'd drop the bone and she'd grab it and run. LOL.. Jag would just move one foot to retrieve her bone and the whole thing would start over again... so cute..

[Richard Crowe]

Holly, our F-1, year-old, Goldendoodle is head and shoulders above her Maltese buddies in intelligence. However, even among out Maltese, we notice a difference in the ability and speed of learning.

As an example, we bought a small set of pet steps so that our Maltese could climb up to the couch. One Maltese never needed any instruction and mastered the steps immediately; another mastered the steps after a few tries and one has never learned to use the steps. She will follow the other two Maltese up to the steps, watch them climb to the couch and then cry to get picked up and placed on the couch.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

OR is she the smartest one, because she knows you will pick her up??? LOL

[Denice Caouette]

I once woke up at 2 am and could not figure out what had awakened me.. after a minute a heard a kind of tearing sound..I tiptoed around the bed to this site: Bri, about 1 year old had the edge of the bedspread in her mouth and was pulling for all she was worth, while Coco (3 and the stinker!) was sitting 3 inches from her with her head cocked and actually GRINNING! You could almost hear her say " Just wait and see what will happen to you!". I do believe that she was the one instigating the whole thing...

[Samantha]

LOL. That is my Female, Cacao. Cacao will bark at the door and that gets Beau up and to the door. Cacao will then come lay down where Beau was. And Beau is non the wiser. He will look out the window and wait to see if he missed something. By the time he gives up Cacao is all nice a cozy in Beau's spot.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

I tend to think of our dogs like children and I don't think that one is smarter than another they each have their own kind of smarts.

Boomer is our oldest and biggest. He is very affectionate. When he wants attention he will come over to you and put his head under your arm. He is also the most independent.

Shayna our 48 lb "mini" is the Alpha dog. Also very affectionate. She will cuddle up to you. She is our "watch dog". She definitely lets us know when someone is near the house. She also is the first one to recognize if there is a problem with Mariner (he has a seizure disorder). But she also will run in front of the car in the driveway when you are pulling in.

Mariner was blind from an accident at 7-8 weeks old and has a seizure disorder. He was able to do everything - his sight did not stop him. He has regained "functional" vision. He does certain things that are do to his sight problems. Outside when he is called in he will go to a specific spot in the yard and then come in. He knows when he is getting his medication by the sound of the pill jar being opened or the sound of the cheese wrapper.

They all knock or bark at the door to come in or go out.

Perhaps Mariner is the smartest as he has had to overcome much difficulty. If you come into our house you would not know which dog has sight problems. Mariner compensates through smell and hearing.

[Elmo the Bear]

I seem to have posted this somewhere else... I'm easily confused)..

Hunny B (right) is the youngest but seems to be in charge. Elmo (left) pretends to be stupid but we reckon he has hidden talents...

[Kelli, Fenway, & Dustin Pedroia]

I know this is a discussion from last January, but I didn't have two doodles then, but now that I do (I will have had 2 for a year in April) I know exactly what you're talking about. I do want to start by saying that I believe that both of my doodles are super smart, but Fenway (the female labradoodle) has Dustin (the male goldendoodle) beat hands down. You can actually see her weighing out the consequences of not following certain commands. Kind of funny. She is also very devious. She sets poor Dustin up all of the time. Example 1: Fenway knows she's not supposed to get things out of the trash, but for some reason she can't help herself. So I was in our bedroom putting clothes away when I heard her come tearing across the living room. I peaked out and saw Fenway tossing a tissue around having a ball. I made a little noise and darn if she didn't go drop the tissue right in front of Dustin and then go hop up on the couch all sweet and innocent. If I hadn't seen her do it I would have thought it was all Dustin. Example 2: She tricks him with toys all of the time if he has something she wants. She'll do the same thing as some of the other doodles mentioned on here and pretend to be all into another toy until Dustin comes to check out what she's doing and then she sweeps in and snaps up his toy. Example 3: She also lures him off of the couch or bed with her trickiness. She'll come and dangle a toy in front of Dustin and as soon as he gets down to play with her she'll drop the toy and jump up in his spot. It's so mean, but so funny at the same time. Poor Dustin he falls for it every time. This being said, Dustin is and was so much easier to train because he just wants to please while Fenway is constantly trying to outsmart us so she can do what she wants. So much personality!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I am coming in late on this one too, but it is always fun to swap stories!!! Even with old discussions.

Peri is definitely smarter training wise. She knows her commands and is also very devious. She, like Kelli describes, will set Taquito up to take the fall. Which is hilarious because Taquito really doesn't get into trouble. But Taquito doesn't know how to sit (refuses - won't put his booty on the ground). He will come, but all-in-all, he is not the brightest bulb in the pack.

However, Taquito has figured out how to manipulate us. So maybe he is a little smarter than we think :) Here is the best example I can think of: After walking one spring day (this is before Peri entered our lives) for a few miles, Taquito was pretty worn out. We entered my sister's apartment hallway. He was dizzy and ran his RIGHT side into the wall - really just his head. It was just a slight knock - I was not worried at all and in fact, I could not help but laugh a little. Poor guy! He looked back and me and my sis with a look of "poor me, how can you laugh at that?"...then he proceeded to limp his LEFT leg all the way to her apartment. His left leg did not touch a thing. He did this because he wanted attention and for me to stop laughing. There...I sound like a bad mom for laughing, but can you imagine? He does stuff like this a lot. And he has figured out that if he gets tired on a walk, all he has to do is lay down on his back in the grass, smile and I will scoop him up :)

But Peri is the obedience star...when she is in the mood :) Doodles are smarter period than most of the other non-doodles I have met. But they must be in the mood to obey. Peri is 9 months and is really loving testing our patience. It is pretty hilarious!