B-o-R-I-n-G....
Posted on 10/28/2006 2:29:38 PM PDT by shrinkermd
From the day they brought her home, the D'Avellas' black-and-white mutt loathed ringing phones. At the first trill, Jay Dee would bolt from the room and howl until someone picked up. But within a few weeks, the D'Avellas began missing calls: When the phone rang, their friends later told them, someone would pick up and then the line would go dead.
One evening, Aida D'Avella solved the mystery. Sitting in the family room of her Newark, N.J., home, Ms. D'Avella got up as the phone rang, but the dog beat her to it. Jay Dee ran straight to the ringing phone, lifted the receiver off the hook in her jaws, replaced it and returned contentedly to her spot on the rug
...Ethologists, the scientists who study animal behavior, have amassed thousands of studies showing that animals can count, understand cause and effect, form abstractions, solve problems, use tools and even deceive. But lately scientists have gone a step further: Researchers around the world are providing tantalizing evidence that animals not only learn and remember but that they may also have consciousness -- in other words, they may be capable of thinking about their thoughts and knowing that they know.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
When a dog licks you it's kissing you.
When a cat licks you it's tasting you.
Our cat 'Fluff'attempts to knock the phone off the hook when the answering machine goes off. We have taken to hiding the handset when we leave the house.
Fifteen years ago we had a cat 'Tuffy' who learned how to ring the doorbell when she wanted to come in the house. We put up with this for about a week -- she then became an indoor cat.
I'm sorry, did I say donkey?.....I meant 'jackass'.
I was watching a cat for someone who never came back to pick it up. We basically shared a space for a couple of years.
I had an accident and after a stay in the hospital with a broken leg, etc. I made it back home.
I immediately went to bed and after staring at me for a while the cat jumped up into the bed and tucked in right beside me - something the cat had *never* ever done before.
Once I was asleep the cat got up, walked to the bottom of the bed and sniffed my broken leg from my toes up to wherever. The cat sniffed for a long time and then came back - to the other side - and cuddled up.
I don't think the cat had ever cuddled up before in its life. The cat seemed to know that something was very wrong.
Cats seem to figure a lot of things out that we think they shouldn't be able to. I used to have a cat that was smart enough to hit the power button on my Mac II, wait for it to come up, bat the mouse down until it went into one of the screen saver hot corners, and would sit and watch the fish screen saver. Somewhere I have a videotape of this - I kept trying to figure out why I'd leave with the Mac turned off and come back to it turned on.
My current cat has figured out how to unlock my front door. (!)
That depends. Are you treating the cats as retarded dependents, or as adult people?
My cat attacks solicitors, but not normal visitors or neighbors. Still trying to figure out how he knows who's who.
My daughter and son in law had a flock of chickens, and a rooster. The rooster started to get full of himself and started going after the grandchildren. My son-in-law didn't want to wring its neck and eat it, so he put it in the car, drove a few miles, and left it by the side of the road.
Then the next day he had an attack of conscience. Suppose the rooster starved? So he put a pail of feed in the trunk and drove back to where he had left the rooster. He found a pickup truck and a couple of guys saying, "Looks like somebody left this rooster here!" So he turned around and drove off. I imagine the rooster went into somebody's pot.
Or if it was lucky, maybe it has a coop full of hens to lord over.
The real difference between cats and dogs:
Provide everything a dog needs: Food, housing, water, toys, medical care...just everything...and the dog looks at you and thinks "Wow! You must be God!"
Do the exact same things for a cat, and he will one day look at you and think "Wow! I must be God!"
I don't treat them like people because they aren't, adult or otherwise.
I do treat them as independent contractors, if you will. I provide them a place to hang out (particularly in bad weather) and even provide some food in exchange for them cleaning out annoying rodents and the like from around our house. The mole population in our neighborhood is seriously endangered by my little hit squad. I insist, however, that they don't bring their work inside with them. That's one of my battles with them. I know they're often wanting to present me a trophy and I praise them for it, but outside the window, not inside.
I also try to mediate when they get into fights, mostly by asserting myself as the alpha male in the household. So far that works, but one of these days...
But pound for pound, my Dobies are the smartest animals I have ever owned. They psyche things out. . .
The Old Girl, when she wants a spot on the sofa, presently taken by others. . .will create a Barking Opportunity.
The young sprouts charge with great vigor at this opportunity to show their stuff. . . .
Old Girl climbs on the sofa, now vacated, and makes herself comfortable!
Who says dogs can't think?
LOL!!!
I like the one you posted too!
Unique pet you've got there!!
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