Most Clever Of Moves

[jordansmom]

Here's one for everyone. We all know our newf's can be really goofy and ham it up for people, but oftentimes we don't give our canine love's credit for being really clever and/or smart (except for their ability to drool on the most evil of people). So, choose one incident where your darling furbaby('s) showed extreme cleverness or smarts to work a situation, work something out, etc. And the reason why I only ask for one is because I know there will be thousands of incidents, but I think we'd like to hear of the one that sticks out most in your mind.

Here's mine. One night during the dead of summer, probably around 3AM...you know, when the house seems to be the warmest. Jordan came upstairs and woke my husband. Not me, my husband. My husband thinking Jordan wanted to go outside takes him downstairs to the door. Jordan sits, not a normal behavior when he wants to go outside. My husband opens the door and Jordan still sits, looking up at my husband. My husband then asks Jordan what's up, what do you want? Jordan looks up at the thermostat, then my husband, then back at the thermostat. My husband is thinking there is no way this dog knows what this thing is on the wall. But he decides to humor the dog. So he moves the lever until the a/c kicks on. Jordan gets up, walks over to his sleeping spot and lies down. My husband picks his jaw up off the floor and comes back upstairs. Tells me about this in the morning. Jordan has never done that again.

 

[Mrs Beblo]

Oh,Honey!! The Beblo household has MANY a vent with *paw prints* from when Buford gets annoyed that the cool air has stopped!
WHACK!! What's up wit THAT??? He wants his cool air, and he's not kidding!
Thankfully, vent covers are inexpensive...so much so that I've *given up* washing them, knowing that Mr B is as 'anal' at keeping them perfect as I am at keeping them clean! (It's a Home Depot type of "Match.com"....xoxo Mrs B

 

[NessaM]

I've got a good one! Nanook is the beta dog in our household - Pooka rules the roost. One afternoon Pooka had just taken Nanook's bully stick from him and was settling down for a good long chew - he'd already eaten his. I usually don't interfere in their hierarchy unless there is a really good reason - anyway Nanook usually won't chew on a bully stick unless Pooka is there - he likes to have his chews communally. So I saw it happen but didn't correct Pooka or take the bully away. Nanook stares at Pooka for a minute or two, thinking, and then makes a big show of going to the window, staring out, acting alarmed, and then he barked! Nanook NEVER barks at the window - once or twice at night he might have moofed softly if there was something alarming out there - but it was broad daylight and there was nothing out of the window. Pooka, who is normally our early warning system and who loves nothing more than to stare out the window and bark at intruders, freaked out, leapt up - bully stick forgotten - to launch himself at the window and find out what was going on.

As soon as Pooka was at the window Nanook ran around behind him, grabbed the bully stick, and scurried into the living room with it to hide behind the couch.

He'd FAKED an alarm so Pooka would drop the treat.

 

[BoundlessNewfs]

Oh Nessa...Maggie does that too! Must be in the bloodlines or something! Mags will have a treasured empty paper towel roll, and Lucy will snatch it. Maggie will immediately charge to the diningroom to sound the alarm (they look out that window and can see the driveway and most of the neighbor's yard). Lucy will drop the roll and run to bark, too, then Maggie will sneak back and consume the roll before Lucy returns.

 

[Bella and Gabe]

This too is a huge game at our house. My Gabriel, though younger than 'Bella, is beginning to take over the Alpha position. 'Bella is so layed back about most things. So rather than making a stink over chews stolen by Gabe, she too will feign strangers at the window, or even more effective, that she is going to the kitchen to get a treat. It works everytime. Gabe drops the chew, runs to the kitchen, 'Bella bolts back to the chew toy and happily plops herself on her cushion. You can just see the expression in Gabe's eyes as if to say, "Dang! She tricked me again!"

 

[AngusMcDubhsMom]

OMG, mine do that too! I gave Gracie and Maneen marrow bones, Maneen takes his outside and hides it, then scouts Gracie's. He'll start a diversion, she leaves her bone, he scampers down and grabs hers and bolts out the back door. SCORE!

 

[Brody the Newf]

I think I'll skip on this thread Brody is a sweetie but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

 

[jordansmom]

Awww...come on....there has to be something that Brody has done that surprised you!

Everyone, keep the moves coming!!

 

[Baloo]

Baloo recognizes the 'ding' of the microwave. I thaw his food and he comes running. He even sits by the micro if I'm a bit late in the morning. Waiting and waiting and waiting.....until I show up....then drooling and drooling and drooling.

 

[rcantor]

Isaac used to do the alert bark thing when one of his kids was in a spot he wanted. Then Princess started to do it at about a year old to get Isaac out of her spot and now it doesn't fool anyone any more. Tank did something so amazing it needs its own thread.

 

[Erika]

Gerik will sit by the fridge and stare at it after his dinner,If I ignore him he follows and barks.Off to the kitchen we go for his after dinner drink, a 1/4 cup of milk in a humans bowl.

 

[CMDRTED]

This is sorta related...it was warm in the house we mysteriously had a warm day here. Oreo is standing on the bed and i'm trying to sleep. I get "boof"....."Oreo lay down and go to sleep." "BOOF"......"Come on Oreo I want to sleep"........"BOOF".....So now I sit up, Oreo's looking at the window, "What is it?...Is there something outside?" "BOOF!!!!", so I get up look out the window...nothing....I open the window so I can hear....Oreo Lays down curls up in a ball and proceeds to go to sleep. I did get a look ("Dad, how long does it take you to get a clue, and open the window?"):beatdeadhorse::slap:

 

[NinaA]

Yup. We do that too. Moonlight walks in front of the TV and stares up at the ceiling fan until Daddy gets up and turns in on for her. Same thing in the kitchen. But, the funniest thing is something that happened yesterday. He went out to get the mail. She followed him to the door and sat down, he pushed the storm door shut and told her (shaking his finger at her) not to come out, he goes and gets the mail, comes back and the inside door is shut and locked! She had backed up and pushed the door shut on him. So, he has to go around to the back of the house to try to get in. Guess who's sitting at the back gate (after managing to get out the back door - left ajar) smiling at him as if to say, "I wondered how long it would take you to get back here. Isn't this a fun game?" Every time he mentions it to her now she play bows and growls at him. What a good girl!!

 

[Emma & Nigel's Mom]

Gosh, I don't have any good stories like this yet, I'm sure adding the second one will make for some interesting developments.

The only thing I can think of, when I think about how smart these guys are, is when I have Emma out for a walk.

I tell her to sit, and she won't, I know as soon as I get eye contact with her, she'll sit, but SHE knows that too, so she won't look at me!!!! I stand there making noises, of some sort, trying to find the one that'll make her look at me....one day I got so frustrated with her not looking at me, I put my hand under her chin to make her look at me........that was the wettest chin, I have ever held!:ah: She looked pleased.

 

[2newfs4now]

Charlie does the alert fake, too; although he does it if he thinks I'm paying too much attention to the other dogs. He runs to the living room window, barks, they run to the window, he runs to me, lays down and rolls over for a belly rub. Silly boy!!

 

[Susan Ferree]

Isabella has practically scared the pee out of me driving home one day. She gave one of the loud BOOOFs right in my ear. It took several more Boofs to figure out she wanted the car window rolled down.
I have had the Pyrs to do the alarm bark to get my food, I go to the door and come back to an empty plate. I also had one decide she had been outside playing long enough so I let her back in. My sisters and I stayed out a while longer with the other girls. When we went in we found the cinnimon roll pan clean and ready to go back in the cabinet still on the table where we left it. There had been 2 rolls left when we went out.

 

[kr200MSU]

Bingo knows how to get my attention when she wants it, too. We have a loptop computer with a screen that swivels to fold flat against the keyboard so you can use a special pen and write on the screen. When the screen is up and I am using the laptop on the couch, Bingo will come up and nose the screen, swiveling it away from me so I can't see what I am doing! When I am at the desktop computer and she wants my attention, she will nose in the sliding drawer that holds the keyboard so that I can't type! Too smart for her own good.

 

[jordansmom]

Keep em coming! What cute accounts. Do any of you have newfs that are so laid back all they have to do is look at you and you know what they want or need?

 

[NinaA]

I don't know about laid back, but we always say they should have a bubble, like a cartoon, over their heads. They can always communicate with us - and do it easily - not even necessarily what they want or need. It can be am I good, I'm sorry, wasn't that funny, ha ha, etc. I can say all this here, because you all won't think I'm crazy, you'll agree, but DH always cautions me not to say this to non-dog people. Crazy? Who?

 

[ashaw]

Precious would bark at me with her bowl of water was empty. If I still did not pay her attention she would pick the bowl up with her mouth and through it at me. Her look at me would be now I got you attention please go get the water.
Also on those hot days she would begin to pant at me to turn on the A/C. Now you have to understand those hot days started in April and end in November. My wife threaten to move out to warmer weather like 70 degrees. Precious was always hot when it got to 70 degrees. One year our A/C was on no stop from the 1st of April until the end of November. Our house was the only one on the block that had snow fallen inside. Those were the days.

Alan