My best story of true intelligence (not just getting used to a “routine”) was of my old Shepherd Shana (yes, I LOVE that dog and worship her! LOL).
She outwitted Border Collies in their very own home which she hardly knew at the time.
As a teenager we’d still periodically visit up at my uncle/aunt’s farm about 200 mi away. I’d had Shana maybe a year or 2 (and that age). My aunt had several Border Collies (yes, she’s a fancier) of working lines, including those she bred herself (the original 1 was born just ONE DAY after my Shana).
Her house floorplan was such that you could go all the way around the house in a nice rectangle pattern, 1 room to the next without oddball paths. 1 of the contiguous rooms still had the old farmhouse door on it that could close off the room. The door had panes like an outer door so was perfectly see-through. Bear in mind these Border Collies LIVED in this house for a year or more, whereas we only visited a few times and my German Shepherd was only allowed a limited time each time to visit (chaos with multi-dogs, you know).
My cousins and I were tossing toys from the kitchen through that doorway into the living room for each dog, 1 at a time generally (we didn’t want them getting in fights and let them all have turns), for them to retrieve and bring back. They all did this reliably.
Then my cousin decided to “tease” them and shut the door on them when they’d come back. We’d do the same thing otherwise. So each of his BCs would run off to find the toy and then come back to closed door. Each of them sat dejected, looking through, sitting down, dropping the toy.
Shana’s turn had her confront the closed door, stop a second, then she turned tail and ran through the rest of the house to get back to us in the kitchen! Guess she already knew there was another way!
The smartest dogs with the most personality always hurt the worst to lose. My stupid Dalmation has been dead 11 years and I’m crying as I type this. Sorry about Shana. She sounds wonderful.
There's GOT to be another great dog out there, maybe from similar bloodlines.