The Joke's On Me

There are some things that annoy me but there's one that has annoyed me since I was a kid. That thing is people who say that dogs don't think. These so called experts have obviously never lived with or even spent much time with a dog. Sorry, you so called scientists or researchers, or whatever you wish to call yourselves, you are just wrong.

Dogs think and they feel emotions and they have good days and bad days. They feel love and feel grief. They can be sneaky and silly and they can exhibit guilt. And they have a sense of humor, too.

Portuguese Water Dogs are well known for their sense of humor. We read and heard about it early in our Portie days. Bentley had a crazy sense of humor. He liked to play tricks on people and other dogs.

Tsar liked to play jokes on me. He had several but his and my favorite was one that he often played on dark moonless nights.

Being all black, Tsar would disappear into the night when I let him out for our last call. All the other dogs would come in when I called but Tsar would still be outside in the dark. I would walk into the yard and stand at the top of the hill to call him, but he didn't come and I couldn't see him. I'd call again and again, then suddenly he would nudge me from behind. He had walked around behind me in the dark and would give me a pretty good push to let me know that he was there while I was calling him. After the first time he did this, when I probably let out a yelp, I would always pretend to be surprised and we would walk into the house together, both laughing. He thought it was a really funny trick to play on me and I swear I could hear him laugh.

Last week my Portie girls started playing a joke on me. The four girls sleep in crates in the TV room at night. The first crate is Norma Jean's, next is Bailey's and Tess and Lola sleep together in an extra large crate. They've slept in the same crates since they were young pups. I leave the doors unlatched during the day and when we come in from last call, they each walk into their own crate and stand there till I give them their cookies and latch the crate doors.

One night last week, we came in at bedtime and they got into their crates, but when I went to give them their cookies, Bailey was in Lola's crate. I stopped and said, "That's not your house". She charged out, got in her own crate and Lola walked into hers. I wasn't sure what was going on, so I didn't think too much about it.

The next night when we came in Norma Jean was in Bailey's crate. I shook my head and again said, "that's not your house". She ran into her own and Bailey settled in her crate. Now I knew something was up.

The third night Lola was in Norma Jean's crate. We repeated the ritual and I knew they were all laughing about how they had tricked me.

Tess is a wonderful, beautiful dog. She's sweet and gentle but she's not the brightest bulb. Each of the three nights Tess stood by and watched but didn't participate. Things settled down for a couple days then over the weekend we came in for bed and Tess was standing in Bailey's crate. She was playing, too. I laughed and shooed her to her own crate and gave them all extra cookies.

I'm sure we'll all play this game again soon, maybe they can confuse Rob with it. I know they are all enjoying it and I'm sure I can hear them laughing.

No, you dumb "experts", you are very wrong. Dogs do think.