Harley is freakishly smart

I have had smart dogs before. Penny, my beloved Shetland Sheepdog, was so smart that I used to swear she could read my mind. She knew a number of off the wall commands like, "Penny, I'm cold" which just meant that she needed to get up and cuddle closer on cold winter nights. Maverick is smart but in a lovely, gentle, regular-dog kind of way. He's obedient and fun and remembers to do what he's told more often than not, but he's not going to win any science fairs if you know what I mean. Clark, Indiana's son, was so smart he would jump in my window and get my pillows so that he could take them back out through the window and sleep on them. (Indiana is so stupid his doggy IQ is in the negative numbers, but that's a whole other story.)

Harley is a freak. Harley is so smart it literally weirds me out. It took him a little over a week to learn to roll over on command, but it took less than a week for him to learn to shake hands, speak, sit up and beg, walk on his hind legs and dance on his hind legs. Each weeknight for one week he learned a new command. It got to the point that we were running out of tricks to teach him.

Earlier today Mom asked me how I would teach him how to play dead. I rolled Harley over on his back, told him "Play Dead" and gave him some praise. I told Mom, "that's how."

Tonight, we were running through his list of tricks while I fed him itty bitty pieces of cat food. Mom said, "Tell him to play dead." So, I did... and he did!

I had never shown him other than the two second demonstration I gave her earlier, but he remembered and did it, not just once, but over and over. Ok, that is an-alien-who-only-looks-like-a-dog-mated-with-your-doggy's-mama kind of smart! I once read a book with that subject (great book) and one of the signs that the dog was half alien was that it would wind its rope around a tree and then unwind it. Harley does that, too. I'm telling you, it's not a coincidence.

He isn't even a year old yet and he's already smarter than most men. If this keeps up he's going to bypass even some of the women I know. In another year or two he could even get as smart as I am... nah, no male could ever do that.

Harley Stories

I have two Harley stories tonight. First, I took Harley outside with me when I went to get my iPod out of my car. Harley is a fun dog and we love him to bits, but he has one really bad flaw. When he sees something moving, he chases it, whether it's a rabbit, a bird, a butterfly, or a car. Since we have no fence, that gets dangerous. Usually he is leashed outside, either tethered just outside of the door or on a leash when he is walking with me. Unfortunately, that means he doesn't get very much exercise except when Dad takes the dogs out to play fetch. Tonight, I wanted him with me, but I didn't want to put him on leash, so I tried something different.

I took the laser pointer outside with me, which he loves, and distracted him with it. He ignored everything but that laser dot, and because it was dark, he could see it better than ever. He was having so much fun that I started swinging the pointer in bigger and bigger arcs, and before I knew it, he was racing from one end of our yard to the other. So, I took him down to Mom's art studio and the students stood at the back door and watched him chase that thing as far as I could make it go and back. He probably ran half a mile or more, just running back and forth after the laser. By the time I was tired, he was panting, but still wanting more. I decided to stop while he was still enjoying himself. I think we have found a new way to get his exercise.

Mom and Dad bought me Nintendogs for Christmas, but they weren't able to find the Nintendo DS Lite anywhere. We have been looking for it ever since, and today Mom found one. I played with a little Sheltie puppy I named Penny (after my Sheltie that died last March) and it was loads of fun.

Harley, however, hates it. It has a voice recognition feature and you teach the dog its name and some commands. It freaked Harley out when I talked to the virtual puppy. He got very jealous and climbed up on my chest, putting himself between my face and the game. I have never seen him like that. I finally put the game away and played with him. What else could I do?