Saturday, October 1, 2011

You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, but our English bulldog, Savannah, could be a genius.

Did I hear you say you’re going somewhere?

We knew she understood certain words like “go,” “sit” and “who’s here?”

She understands “go” so much that we’ve resorted to spelling it out so she doesn’t get excited thinking SHE was going somewhere.

Most dogs don’t like going to the vet, but it doesn’t bother Savannah because she’s going somewhere, well, plus she knows she gets treats there. She doesn’t care where she’s going as long as she’s going.

Worn out from all her thinking.

This morning she showed that she has taken another step mentally.

Savannah was sleeping on the couch when I came up from the basement and told Tammy I was about to mow the yard. Other than opening her eyes, Savannah didn’t move.

But when she saw me changing shorts she perked up, jumped off the couch and came over to where I was standing.

This wasn’t the first time she’s associated me changing clothes with going somewhere. The previous time she jumped off the couch when she saw me changing from shorts to pants.

Tonight I was in the basement with Savannah and I went upstairs to see what Tammy wanted for dinner. I told Tammy I needed to “go get food” and the next thing I know Savannah was standing next to me.

She followed me around like a shadow until I asked her if she wanted to go with me.

Word Association

Really? I know where it is, duh.

Savannah has amazed us with her mental capacity in other ways during the 4+ years we’ve had her.

On mornings I take her to Camp Bow Wow, I tell her to “Go tell Momma bye” and/or “Go tell Jake bye” and she runs to whoever I say and waits for them to pet her before coming back to me.

When we ask her “Where’s UGa?” she’ll run to her toy box and pull out her stuffed UGa, the Georgia Bulldogs mascot.

If we ask “Where’s monkey?” she’ll pull out one of the two stuffed monkeys she got.

It’s not like she’s only got a few stuffed animals either. Looking around as I’m sitting here I see six different stuffed animals of hers, none of which are UGa and only one of them is a monkey.

Ready for Bed

I heard you say something about Hawaii.

If I’m watching TV in the basement and I see Savannah coming down the stairs around 8:30–8:45 p.m., I know she’s ready for bed.

She was most likely sleeping on the couch where Tammy and/or Jake were watching TV but knows that they won’t let her outside so she finds me. Often I tell her that after she goes out I’ll put her in Jake’s bed.

When she comes back inside she bounces up the stairs and is already in Jake’s room by time I get the door closed. She then waits for me to pick her up and put her in his bed.

I haven’t owned a lot of dogs in my life so it’s possible that Savannah really isn’t that smart but that I’m just dumb enough to think she is.

I don’t know when she learned to open these.