I love how smart Shelties are naturally!

M

mikebdub

Forums Enthusiast
I am just sitting here thinking about how naturally smart our pups really are! My girl Cali has really no training what so ever and after only being a year old she is by far the smartest dog I have ever owned. The simple things are what really gets me like how she can decipher between all of her toys.. None of my friends believe me until I get them to ask for a certain thing and she will dig through her huge pile of toys until she finds exactly what you are looking for! I have never had to leash her while we are out for walks unless we are in a "new" area or near roads.. She follows beside me perfectly and when she gets a bit off course a little "wait" command goes a LONG way! She knows exactly when its bed time and goes and picks her baby and her kong ball up and retreats to her crate. I don't even have to close the door to it anymore because she knows when it is time to come out. The few times that she has wandered out in the night I find her sitting at the end of my bed like she is asking if its ok for her to be out! She picked up on the normal sit/stay/come really fast and the "where is?" command is the cutest.. She knows daddy, mommy, baxter (the cat), grandma, grandpa, fish, baby (her favorite toy) and tucker (my moms dog.. aka her boyfriend :D) Whenever you say it, she gets the cutest little puppy head tilt and then she runs around frantic until she gets to where she needs to be and touches him/her with her nose and sits down so proud of herself.

Lets hear some of your smart furkid stories! :yes:
 
Shelties Smart

I agree with you Mike on how smart our Shelties are.Shadow is wicked smart. He will know where I stick a toy and might forget about for a few days and he knows right where I put it.When I tell him place he knows it is at my heel and if his sit is a bit off I tell him fix it.At my bank(they sponsored him for the AKC Nationals and Germany) so his picture is on their wall and they let him in the back and he knows where the cookie jar is.When we go ot the beach and it is time to leave I tell him go to the car and he knows wich one is mine.
 
I agree that Shelties are exceptionally smart. Along with the normal commands (sit, stay, come, heel, down, drop, wait, etc.) Spencer also knows “it’s in your toy box”, “it’s in Mommy’s bedroom” - because he leaves his toys all over the place, “bring it to Mommy”, “go find your cat” (one of the seven cats is his best buddy), “get up on your chair” and lots of other things. But for some reason, he can’t make himself understand “no bark” -even though I know he does get it.
Ebony, the Sheltie I had years ago came to me as an adult. She had been my sister’s dog, but when my sister became ill and couldn’t take care of her any longer, I gladly took her to be my pup. She had no obedience training at all. But she heeled automatically; came directly to me when I called out “come”, herded the birds who gathered in the yard until they got wise to her and flew off immediately upon seeing her outside. At first it surprised me how she just “knew” things, but as I learned more about the breed, it all made sense - she was a typical intelligent Sheltie!:biggrin2:
 
My little Lexi surprises me sometimes as well. I think her watching tv amuses me the most, its like she actually understands whats going on and she gets this real focused look on her face. Lexi also stays by my side on walks without a leash and is extremely obedient. I do have to share one story of how she got tricked. My boyfriend bought Lexi for me at the very beginning of our relationship. We've now been together a year and Lexi and Jonathan have become frenemies. Jonathan was used to his rough and outgoing lab while Lexi was shy and kindhearted so as a puppy sometimes he played too rough (not physically, but emotionally). Now she is pretty hesitant towards him. The other night I was in the shower and she was lying next the tub waiting on me to get out. Jonathan came in the bathroom which of course spooked her into leaving and going to the kitchen. Well after I got out Jonathan got in and she must not have caught the transaction and so she went back to her posted position by the tub. Jonathan went to ask me a question and she realized who was in the shower and the "OH CRAP" look was all over face.. she came running to me like she had been lost for days and hadn't seen me.. I know she's a smart girl, but I guess we finally pulled one over on her!
 
They sure are smart!

I just realized the other day Pascal probably has learned over a dozen words. I can tell him to bring me his "fishy" toy, or his "monkey", or his "big ball", and he will bring that exact toy to me. He'll look the whole house over until he can find exactly what I asked for!

His newest thing is learning that when I toss a toy and it lands on a chair, I tell him "UP" and he'll figure out that it's up on something. Now I have to teach him "chair" or "sofa". I'm always amazed at how fast he learns.

He also does sit, lay down and roll over on command and his favorite thing is every morning we take a treat to our neighbors dog Buddy, I just say "lets get Buddy's bone", course it helps that he gets one too! Buddy loves it too!
 
I get a kick out of the innocent look Bits gets when she's been baring her teeth at Layla and one of says, "Are you making your 'mean girl' face again?":mad:
 
It amazes me that Shanti has trained herself! We have a little decorative doodad that hangs from the doorknob on the front door. A friend bought it for me and it has BoydsBears on it with a little bell that hangs down. We found that when we're in the house and the dog door is locked she started going over to the bell and bumping it with her nose when she wanted out. At first I thought it was a fluke but sure enough....she does it everytime she wants to go outside. It is so cute but my husband didn't think so the night she rang the bell about 15 times! She couldn't make up her mind if she wanted to be inside or outside. LOL :winkgrin:

Kristy

http://www.seehere.com/kristynron
 
Ella is the same way. She's just learned to do things without our explicit teaching.

The last thing she learned. How to open the door and get out of the apartment. In our place, all you have to do is pull down on the door handle, and the door unlatches and you can just push it to get out.

The other day I was taking out some boxes to the garbage behind our apartment and shut the door behind me. When I got back into the apartment complex, I could hear her running up and down the stairs. I thought I had forgot to shut the door.

But, about 20 minutes later,I was inside cleaning the pantry out, and I heard the doorlatch being shaken, and sure enough Ella knows how to jump up, hit the latch down so the door pops open a bit, and she nudges it open and shes off. Smart little bugger.

She also realizes that now, if one of us leaves, she can jump ontop of the couch, push open the blinds, and look out the window like a freaking cat.

Sometimes they are too smart for their own good!
 
Please do not make me admit how smart my babies are. Both hubby and I have degrees, but my guys make us look pretty brainless. It's not just how smart they are, but also how fine tuned their instincts are.

I have had three shelties who were/are service dogs. They were never trained to alert to my low bloodsugars, yet they instinctually knew when they were down and would let me know.

Maizie knows if she howls she is going to get whatever it is she wants. When she wants something of what I am eating she will scratch at the backdoor then stand there waiting for me to get up and wait staring at me until I give her something of what I am eating...she does the same thing when she wants more water or even a little attention, and she loves to stand in the hallway near the freezer door howling when she wants ice cubes. She knows if she howls, I jump t get it for her.

My Rachie was never truly fond of my hubby, but yet when he had food she knew if she rested her head on his leg she would get some.

There is no doubt shelties are very smart...look how well trained they have us
 
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