>>>Wow - I think your dog is smarter than a lot of 3rd graders! <<<
Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but he takes his time and seems to think things through.
When we went to Florida to see Christi before we adopted her, we left him at home (Florida will not allow dogs at any motels) He had way more water than he could drink and way more food out for him than he could possibly eat, and we put puppy pads down all over for him. When we came back, he had not eaten nor drunk hardly anything.
So, when we went down for the final adoption, we didn’t feel that it was fair for him to be so distraught, so we put him in a really nice kennel. This one is run by a really nice lady who keeps it spotless, it is air conditioned and each dog has their own private run and she has trampoline beds for them to sleep on. This lady pampers all the dogs in her care like you wouldn’t believe.
Well, she called us after 3 days so we could talk to him on the phone because he wasn’t eating or drinking, just sitting there in the middle of his bed. Even that didn’t help. He definitely wanted his family to come back.
This continued for the whole week we were gone, and when we picked him up, he ran to the car and jumped in, climbed up on the center console, and almost as if he had spent the whole week thinking what to say, he put his head back like a wolf would do, and very very clearly told us what he wanted... “Home, Home, Home!” He must have repeated that 10 times as we drove the 6 miles home.
Even now, when wife gets home from work, he runs to the door and puts his head up and declares - “Home, Home, Home!”
I can’t say that he spent that time thinking of what to say, but is sure does seem like it.