yesterday. I wish I had the capacity to take one of those fancy little animal videos on the phone. I can't even take a photograph. Nobody, apart from the other person waiting to cross the road, is going to believe this but....yesterday I really did see a dog use the pedestrian crossing.
He obviously knew precisely where he was going. He walked up to the pedestrian crossing, put a paw up and pushed the button to activate the pedestrian lights. Then he sat and waited. When the traffic had stopped he set out on a brisk trot across the road. He turned into the next side street and I lost sight of him.
The other person and I just looked at one another.
What has that dog really managed to learn? How often has he done it? Who does he belong to? Did they train him?
All sorts of questions went through my head as I pedalled on. Yet again it made me think that many animals are much smarter than we think they are.
I know people think I am odd because I talk to the dogs tied up outside the supermarket. Some of the regular dogs know me. I know them better than I know their owners. Their owners are sometimes surprised when the dog they are walking obviously knows me.
"I talk to it outside the supermarket," I say. That still puzzles some owners. How does the dog know who I am?
I am not nearly as good at this as Middle Cat. Middle Cat might best be described as a dog whisperer. She can talk to almost any dog. I do avoid some. Nevertheless most dogs do respond to a friendly voice. I could just ignore them of course but it doesn't seem right.
Cats? Well some want to talk and others don't. I know the cats on my regular route. Most of them respond with an ear twitch. Occasionally they want a bit of a pat or a rub between the ears. It is more likely they will be sunning themselves on the top of a fence or a car. I'll get an apparently lazy whisker twitch of "Yes, we know you. Do not disturb."
I wonder what they would all have to say about the dog using the pedestrian crossing. Would they say, "Party trick!"?
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2 comments:
Of course dogs understand words, and they are constantly listening too - I remember the dog who knew what "walk" was so we had to spell it - he learned that too and we ended up saying something like "Time to perambulate the canine unit" and he was well on the way to cracking that code. We had to speak in code for biscuits too.
This is how they learn when to comfort us - the right dog in the right family is such a valuable member.
I knew a cat who had learned that if it jumped up and hit the doorbell (which had a light) someone would open the door and let it in. I always assumed that the first time it jumped up to pat the bell being curious in the way that cats are and then the door opened. But how clever to immediately connect those two actions forever after!
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