Not So Smart, Kona

    In 1994, Dr. Coren, a professor at the University of British Columbia, wrote a book entitled “The Intelligence of Dogs”.  In the book he rated dog breeds as to their intelligence.  Even back then, he got death threats from people whose dogs he rated low.   I can’t imagine what he would face today with so many more crazy people, if the book was just released.

    In his book, he listed the Border Collie as the most intelligent, with Poodles, placing second.  Our dog Kona is a Bordoodle, a mix of both of those breeds, so you might expect Kona to be really intelligent, but alas, she is not.  

    At present it is very cold here in the Robson Valley (-35°C, -31°F).  It literally only takes Kona three minutes being outside, to start limping because of cold feet and I then have to carry her back into the house.  After a couple of excursions outside, one would think a really intelligent dog would quickly learn that if she needed to do her business, she would quickly do it, and come inside.  

    However, even though Kona starts pacing around by the door, needing to go out to do her business, the second she gets outside, she has forgotten all about it, and starts sniffing around or listening to see if she can hear any squirrels.  Then of course her feet are too cold and she starts standing on three legs, and I have to carry her back in.

    I knew this morning that she had to poop, so I took her outside to let her do it, but she followed the behavior just described, and back we came, having achieved nothing.  Once back inside, she realized again that she had to poop, so I tried duct taping some of my socks onto her feet, hoping that would give her more time to remember what she had to do, but before she got around to it, she had wasted her opportunity by just walking around until the socks started coming off, and I had to carry her back into the house.

     I then tried to rig up straps made of duct tape which I attached to the socks, and draped over her back, then attached to the sock on the opposite side, hoping that would keep the socks on her feet.  It looked pretty ridiculous, but it did keep the socks in place, giving her more time. 

    She did need more time, because she had to find the perfect place to poop.  She walked back and forth beside the fence for a while, but found that spot was not suitable for some reason, so then she walked over by the pond, and again walked back and forth many times, but finally she found the correct spot, and did finally poop.

    I then, once again, have to carry her back to the house, but she had, at least, accomplish what she needed to do, although not in the manner I would expect from an intelligent dog. 

    This Arctic air mass is supposed to last until Tuesday.  I hope that Kona will start to learn about efficiency, sooner than that. 

    

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