Boy but IS's are Clever!

[Trish Haill]

Just a bit of a light hearted thread.  Bess showed me her intelligence today, and I was interested in what your setters do which have your jaw dropping open?

She had two hare shoulders for tea - horrible bloody things, but they are her favourite (along with rabbit).  She gets them for a treat, and I have an old blanket that I put down on the kitchen floor and she's learned that she has to lie on that and eat them, rather than getting the carpet dirty.

Well, tonight she decided she'd take the first one into the lounge to eat - I could just seem my cream rug getting ruined so yelled at her to take it back to the kitchen.  She obviously wanted our company (and who doesn't prefer eating in front of the TV? :0) ) and didn't move - so I yelled at her again to 'wait' whilst I got an old fleece out and put that down instead.

She only stood there holding it in her mouth until I put the fleece down under it.  She then put it on the fleece and proceeded to eat it.  Five minutes later she got up, went out to the kitchen, got the second one and brought that back in and put that on the fleece to eat that one.

Now I couldn't have taught her that trick, but somehow she's cottoned on that mum goes a bit silly unless there's a blanked or something under certain foods. 

No other breed I've had would ever have had a clue what to do in this situation! 

 

[Lesley Gilks]

I always maintain that any working breed is intelligent, they need to be to do the work.  It does make me mad though when people say to me that my Setters are lovely but  "a bit stupid" as they obviously don't know the breed!

[Carmel Murphy]

They are so clever and I too get annoyed when people say they are stupid??

Megan's favourite trick to get Abbey off the couch is to take a toy and start playing with it, which gets Abbey's attention and, hey presto, Abbey off the couch and Megan hops on ;o))) Now Abbey does the same with Fia, so the clever trick continues with the younger generation;o))

[Lesley Gilks]

I had one woman come up to me and say that she once had a Setter but in her words "had to get rid of it at 18 months old because it was so naughty"  Needless to say, I wasn't happy.

[Lynn Spencer]

Absolutely Agree Finn.  I have always exercised my dogs, every day.  We either walk for an hour or take them to the dog park which is their favourite thing.  When they come home, they are so happy & contented that they sleep most of the day & when they're not asleep, they're very calm, beautiful girls.  I think we all get sick & tired of the 'stupid, crazy, scatter-brain' comments. 

 

Trish, my two girls also eat their bones on an old throw-rug that we put over our carpet.  When they see their bones coming, they will go & sit & wait for me to put their rugs down.  I put one rug in front of our coffee table & the other rug on the other side.  They sit down & chew their bones for quite awhile until Grace, my English Setter, takes her bone over to Tess's rug & puts it down in front of her.  Tess gets up & begins to chew on Grace's bone & Grace takes Tess's bone to her rug.  Yep, they swap & this is something that Grace learnt to do very quickly.  She is only just over one year old.  They are clever little things;  I agree. 

[Carmel Murphy]

I love the bone swap;o)) Last year when I had 5 adult setters here they did the bone swap too;o)) amazing stuff;o)

[Jane Turner]

We've had to re-activate child locks on our kitchen drawers after I discovered Rufus in the garden eating a packet of cheese an onion crisps. He'd managed to steal them from a drawer and then open a door to get out into the garden for his 'picnic'. Obviously we don't want him making a habit of that! Not sure if you'd class that as clever or cunning? Either way its a little embarrassing to be outwitted by a 9 month old dog!

He still tries it on with said drawer but isn't clever enough to get past the child lock ... yet.

[Sue Paterson]

Our youngster Callum managed to open a wall cupboard by balancing on his hind legs on a dog bed. Unfortunately he got, and consumed, the best part of a box of Q tips! Then we put strong magnetic catches on it. He quickly got in and shredded a full roll of kitchen towel. 

Then we put a bolt on it. Five minutes later he had the cupboard open and the contents strewn over the floor. Finally we've put a lockable catch on the cupboard...a bloomin' nuisance when you just want to get something quickly. I feel certain he thought it was a 'Brain Game for dogs' from a recently acquired book:)

[Lesley Gilks]

What is it with cotton buds?  My two are also drawn to them.

[Kimberly Simmons]

Since Lesley opened the door of intelligence in "working breeds", I'll relate one of my favorite tales. We had a black Lab, Hanna, and my son's Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa, a Beagle pup, Hunter. One day I was working on the computer in our basement and saw the two of them sitting at the top of the stairs with Hanna holding her leash! I said, "Not now". They walked away, presumably to lie down and wait, but then I heard "rrruff" again and looked up. They were both sitting at the top of the stairs, with Hanna holding her leash and Hunter the pup holding one of my shoes!  LOL....I couldn't resist that! We went for our walk!  They're waiting at the Rainbow Bridge....

[Trish Haill]

Love this story.

[Dianne cook]

Only "just a dog" could do that Kimberley :) so sweet.

[Lois McCullough]

Our ISs are hard work because they're so intelligent they need constant training to keep their brains working. Our office at home is above the Barn at the end of the garden the 'boys' go to the office every morning at 8am and Micawber returns at 9am to check breakfast is ready he then hares back to the office nudges Hamilton to get him in he realises no Hamilton no breakfast