Intelligent pets

Years ago when my children were young they used to go to my parents house after school until I finished work. My parents were avid watchers of Countdown, the dog used to snooze through it, but as soon as it ended he would be waiting for them with his paws on the windowsill.

Our current two Siamese sleep in the utility room, and if they think we haven't got up soon enough, they worked out how to open the cupboard over the sink and would bat everything out onto the floor knowing the banging and smashing would get us up. We had to tie the cupboard handles together, so they then managed to turn on the taps by squeezing behind them, and threatening to flood the place!

walls of the houses gardens

My Siamese cats learned how to open the undercounter fridge door by hooking their claws and paws under the door and got out the chicken carcass one day whilst I was at work. What a mess. Then they forgot themselves, and tried to open it whilst I was standing in front of it. They banged it against my legs, and then glared at me because I was in the way.

We lived in a Pennine village when I was girl and had a very clever cat. The front door had a latch handle and she learnt how to sit on the window ledge of the open porch and tap on the handle ( called a sneck in Yorkshire) until it opened and in she sashayed. She never did learn to close it behind her though!

The bus stop was about 50 yards up the road from our house but only one 'bus an hour. I used to get home from work on the 6.20pm 'bus and invariably she would be sat on the wall of the nearest house to the 'bus stop to greet me and then run down the walls of the houses to our house with her tail held high.

Whenever she got the chance she would sneak into my bedroom and dive under the bed covers to the very bottom
and stay there all night if I didn't turf her out!

She lived to be 23 and was much loved by all the family including the dog (who she ruled)!

I a dog who works in a forest school, his owner said that without fail he heads straight for the children in the most trouble/distress and stays with them.

Animals of all types are intelligent- I have seen videos of chicken learning colours, sheep recognising faces and pigs doing a jigsaw, and these are some of the most abused animals on the planet.

This new cat doesn't like the dry food I put down so he leads me to the box of Felix and nudges it. Also when he sees I am getting ready for bed he leaves the room and goes down to bed too.

Such lovely pet stories - well, apart from sodapop's bad lads!

The stories about your cat made me laugh Jane10 brilliant

Our very elderly JR is intelligent enough to have trained us to meet his every need, if we don't jump to it immediately we get 'the look' . He had a toe removed some years ago and if he is not getting enough attention he will hold up his paw for sympathy.
I was out walking my three dogs once when I fell over, did they run and get help, did they hell, they took one look and decided they could now run off into the field to play. Where did I go wrong

Anyone who is a fan of humorous animal videos on line, I am, may waste pass time getting them up from time to time. American home videos often show bears wandering into the backyard, sometimes accessing the family swimming pool One I remember featured large adult black bear being seen off the premises by the family cat, both clearly unaware of their size, very funny seeing a large adult bear obviously intimidated by a very spirited domestic cat a fraction of its size

Some dogs do appear to be super clever in what they are trained to do. I did read about a person patting a sniffer dog in America, and reprimanded by its handler with "please don't interfere with a federal agent"

One cat I had woke one morning at what was obviously the very last moment. He was making for the litter tray, when he heard his sister was already in it, so he dashed into the bathroom and used the floor drain.

The cat I had when I was young and had a hard time getting up in time for work would stand just out of arm's reach and meow very loudly, if I turned off the alarm and didn't immediately get out of bed.

She got me to work on time on many early morning starts.

My parents couldn't afford an outside extension for the phone when they were newly married and a doctor's phone in those days had to be answered- If my mother was in the garden where she couldn't hear the phone when it rang, her cat would run down the garden to her, sit down and scratch his neck hard, so the bell on his collar rang, He had worked that out for himself.

Wonderful stories of all these super-pets.
We moved to Germany taking our 2 cats with us. We weren’t allowed to have cat flaps put in the doors as the house was rented.
Our black cat Sooty found a way round the problem. She would sit at the front door and lift the letter flap so that it tapped against the bottom of the door. She’d do it several times until we heard her and let her in. No one showed her how to do it to my knowledge.

WW, Peggy would have made a wonderful 'assist' dog if she'd been properly trained as a youngster. She's ten now so has taught herself.

We had a lovely cat, Jazz, who would help me get the chickens in at night. Rather than round them up like a sheepdog, she would lead any stragglers to the door of the coop then go back if there were any more. They trusted her completely.

She once separated two scrapping cockerels. One ran off towards the railway line that runs along the side of our property so she went and got him back.

Simples!!

She died a year ago and I still feel like we've lost a team player.

I had a cat that would scoop water onto his paw and drink from it. Very refined. Same cat would pee down the bath plug hole. Bath was next to the loo and he'd obviously watched and learned.

I have a female cat now that is very intelligent. Her adopted brother/husband is super dim. I'm sure she looks at him in disgust sometimes.

merlotgran

*Charleygirl*, Our Jack Russell, Peggy, does the same for DH every night. She also alerts me if she thinks he has a problem as he sleeps in a recliner.

She lets me know if I've missed a message bleep on my phone and barks if something comes to the boil on the hob and she thinks I haven't noticed.

Blimey that is impressive!

Such clever pets!! And we love 'em!

Charleygirl, Our Jack Russell, Peggy, does the same for DH every night. She also alerts me if she thinks he has a problem as he sleeps in a recliner.

She lets me know if I've missed a message bleep on my phone and barks if something comes to the boil on the hob and she thinks I haven't noticed.

Sparklefizz

I had a rescue kitten that I decided to clicker-train. Every time she did something I liked, I clicked the clicker and gave her a treat.

The treats and clicker sat within easy reach on the coffee table.

After 3 days of training, she picked up the cord holding the clicker in her mouth and dumped it on my lap, then sat back waiting for a treat.

??brilliant

That's so sweet Hetty58

I had a cat who instinctively knew it was wrong to wee in the house, but once when she couldn't get out, can't remember why, she managed to pee in a large house plant, not sure it did the plant a lot of good. On another occasion she did a pee in the bath, which could be disinfected away without leaving a residue.

She was a "she" of course ,maybe more intelligent house proud than a male counterpart. Although I would say, the two female cats I had were far moodier and temperamental than the two boys I had during my childhood years.

My little Jack Russell has me well trained. I taught her to wipe her feet when she came indoors - with a few little treats and lots of praise.

Now, if I'm in sight, she often hops out of the cat flap, hops straight back in - and vigorously wipes her feet until the treats arrive.

Thanks WW2 Lovely thread.

I had a rescue kitten that I decided to clicker-train. Every time she did something I liked, I clicked the clicker and gave her a treat.

The treats and clicker sat within easy reach on the coffee table.

After 3 days of training, she picked up the cord holding the clicker in her mouth and dumped it on my lap, then sat back waiting for a treat.

Oh Charley, that's so lovely.