Does your dog try to tell you what to do?

I thought Sierra, my previous dog, was smart. But, I don't think she ever communicated to us in such specific ways that Misha does.

My mom hurt her leg a couple of weeks ago. It's affecting the nerve in her foot. So, she's been using the heating pad to ease both pains. At first, Misha was terrified of the heating pad. She wouldn't touch it. She is scared of the four straps it has hanging from it. If they touch her when walking by, she becomes paralyzed.

Then, she realized it makes heat. Now, any time my mom pulls out the heating pad, Misha is right there. She thinks it's for her!

The other night my mom wasn't using the heating pad. Misha approached her. She tapped her leg with her paw a couple of times. Then, she walked over the heating pad and tapped it. She walked back to my Mom and tapped her leg. She did this a couple of times. She was telling her that she wanted the heating pad!

Does your dog communicate is such ways? Beyond "I want food now", "I have to go potty now", or "play with me" does your dog tell you what it wants? I am really surprised at Misha's communication skills. I had heard that Jack Russell's were smart. I never expected it to this degree.

 

Wow sounds like Misha is a very smart girl. My dog tells me when he wants me to play with him. He makes this really strange face, kind of a taunting look, then he runs for his ball. He knows I won't ever catch him.

 

Aww!

He doesn't do it like your example, but he has his own stuff. For example, he'll throw his head in the direction that he wants us to throw his treats. If we don't do it right, he'll go pick it up and throw it that way instead, and then do it again until we will throw it the right way.

 

Homer always barks in a special way when he wants me to open the door for him. He can also show me that his toy has rolled under his bed (or other furniture). The bed is too heavy, I can't move it, but Homer is always very stubborn

 

I think it is interesting the different ways they communicate with us. They bark, push, touch, use body language, etc. It's really a complex system, isn't it?

I feed Misha by filling her treat balls. It makes her meals go a bit slower. She eats her food in about 2 seconds if it's in the bowl. If I am moving too slow, she hits the hole of the ball with her nose to remind me where the food goes. She only taps the hole, not another part of the ball. Perhaps it's a Jack Russell thing to point with nose or paw to get the humans to obey.

 

And yet, it's a very simple one at the same time. They don't need a full range of words in order to communicate their needs. A simple push or nod or bark is enough to tell us what they want/need most times.

 

Indeed their minds are more complex than most of us are aware of. I read an article that touches on this. It's a very short but informative article. http://kstp.com/article/stories/s2621687.shtml

 

Buddy can actually talk trash does that count. No seriously this dog has actually talked back to us, or given us his own comment. Well, in a way that only a dog can, but we know that he is trying to talk back or comment. One time my sister was scolding Buddy and he actually stuck up his paw to push her away all the while talking his trash talk. So, no one is going to tell me that dogs can't understand you, because I sure believe Buddy and even Oso can.

 

Lol, I believe it!

Mine doesn't do much of that. Instead, it's my cat who does the most trash talking. I have actually held full conversations with her before. Repeatedly. ><

 

You know what my boyfriend said when I complained about Peanut's doing the paw thing to get my attention. He says, "Love, she's exactly like you when you want my attention." I guess that would mean that Peanuts has learned to emulate my actions in order to get what she wants, specifically, my attention.

What does she do? She paws my shoulder while waiting for me to stare at her. Once I look at her, she would stare at me until I ask, "What now?" which is when she'd start wagging her tail.

 

Now everybody say it together:

"Awwww!!!"

So do you paw at your boyfriend's shoulder like that?

 

LOL. I suppose you could replace the word paw with scratch and that would be me... ooops, that sounded like a cat.

At least that's the only thing he has to deal with when it comes to me. With peanuts, he has to wake up with a wet face because the licking alarm clock woke him up.

 

All of my dogs will tell me when they want something! Bandit is especially bad about it. He crawls right up into your lap and puts his paw on your cheek, especially if he wants cuddles/pets. That's all he has to do, and then I'll be stuck with a snoozing, cuddly pup on my lap for the rest of the night. Oh, well.

 

Yes, our current dog will try to tell us he would like to go out of the room, there is a stray cat in the gate and sometimes he try to tell us to follow him to a certain place.