Jenni's post once again made me wonder how aware our dogs are.

Anybody got any stories of dogs that appear to be showing cognizant thought?

Here is one of my experiences.

I had a lab/catahoula named Sheba. I was about 10 or 11 at the time. I can't remember exactly.

Anyway, a friend and I were walking down the road with our dogs offlead. He had a young redbone hound that was about 6 months. We were walking on left side of the road, right next to the ditch. My dog was walking well to our right and his was about 20 feet in front of us.

A car sped up on us and caught us off guard before he could get to his pup. She was walking right into the path of this car.

I look up and Sheba is already in full stride running towards the puppy. Without a second to spare she plows into the pup, rolling him off the road and down a deep ditch.

She saved him right before our eyes. She knew what she was doing. Couldn't convince me otherwise.

Lets hear your stories.:smile:

I got one.

Lab mix (brain damaged alittle from abuse--scars and dents to prove it) wasn't the brightest bulb in the box. His name was Ollie. My boy's name was Bandit...border collie, st bernard mix.

Bandit climbed into the hay loft to get a raccoon...well, the lumber he used to climb into the loft fell and trapped him up there.

I was pregnant--about 6 months---and Ollie comes to me, barks, smiles, yaps, turns and runs away, comes back, repeat and repeat until I finally saw Bandit's head peeking out of the loft window.

Ollie came to Bandit's rescue. Bandit would feed Ollie half of the rabbits he caught, press him against a fence to keep him from being hit by tractors or trucks on the farm, etc.

Ollie came to his rescue by getting me to reset the lumber so Bandit could get out of the loft.

Hardly heroic, more selfish...but Caleb disappeared yesterday morning while I was filling my horse's water. He reappeared a few minutes later w/his empty bucket. I can take a hint.

Cool stories, guys.

I said heroic, but that really cuts down on the type of stories I'm talkin' about. Any story of cognizance on a dogs part is perfect.

Any story about a dog really thinking through a situation. Heroic, resourceful, etc.

Can I interject a neat horse story? I volunteer at an incredible therapeutic horse riding facility which deals primarily with special need's children. One day, Jazz, one of the older "go to gals" froze during a lesson. She could not be encourged to "walk on" - she simply planted all four hooves and would not move. After a moment, the instructor calmly asked for an "emergency dismount" and the student was carefully removed from the horse. A moment later, the child had a severe seizure.

Jazz received lots of extra apples and carrots. The student recovered.

You can see Jazz at the web site below. Also check out Nobie... he holds a near and dear place in my heart. My husband and I donated Nobie in memory of our only son who died three years ago this August. Nobie has become an awesome therapeutic horse and has a loyal little fan club. :-)

(www.dreamcatcherswilliamsburg.org)

Cool story, Barbara!

I forgot about my Grandma's lhasa apso that adopted my dad.

My dad had a brain aneurysm about 14 years ago. He would sometimes have seizures as a result.

When my mom's lhasa died, my grandma's dog decided that she liked staying at our house instead. She would plant herself in dad's lap just to be close.

Twice he had seizures in the morning while he and my mother were in the shower, and both times Vicki, the lhasa, came into my room barking and slamming her paws against my bed. With her waking me I was able to go help mom get dad out of the shower and onto the floor.

You just had to know this very passive dog for this aggressive behavior to mean anything.

We thought she was going to end up being a seizure dog......until after one of dad's worst seizures. Mom and I looked down at the foot of the bed after it was over and what did we see.......Vicki, dead-to-the-world asleep ON dad's feet at the end of the bed.

Maggie is an excellent "jerk" detector. she is generaly friendly with anybody that comes over, delivery people, manintence people, contractors etc. But every now and then she would get nasty with a visitor regardless of how friendly he acted. Further investigation would reveal that the person had run ins with the law and drug abuse. Maggie was about a year old rescue when we got her so I have no idea what her early months were.

Of course squirrels and cats are evil too in her world view

This is not really a hero story or a dog story.

About 3 years ago my grandmother died in hospice care at my mother's house. It was Christmastime and so we were all there with her when she passed. I spent a lot of time helping my mother tend to her and I noticed that my mom's cat would get closer and closer to my grandmother as she got sicker. When she died the cat was in her lap and refused to move.

I think of it from time to time and wonder what was going through his little kitty mind.

Heroic....
Daisy, my first dog, was my best friend, my shadow, my buddy.

We lived on a farm with Angus cattle. (I was ~16 at the time and she would have been ~4 yo old.) The bull (an old one) was my pet. I had taught Daisy how to "herd". Granted, I only had books to read and go by, but we did rather well, considering. She had no fear whatsoever. She had a fierce eye when needed and yet, she was also their "buddy" too.

She weighed 20 lbs soaking wet. Unknown ancestry but fierce on a tug ( lifted up in the air, spun around in circles, etc..she never let go), a grip that could pull me (90 lbs at the time) across the floor, and nerve that never failed.

My bull had been moved for a few months along with the rest of the herd so the pastures could be farmed that year. Eventually they all came back. My bull looked great, but he would never come near. So, one day, I went out to him. It was not my bull.
This one was similar, but up close, I could tell physically it wasn't him, and he HATED humanity.

He charged me. I ran for the gate but I knew I wouldn't make it in time before he was on me. I must have yelled for Daisy, because a black, brown, and white streak appeared and latched onto the bull's face. That stopped him cold. I made it over the fence and turned around to see my little girl being whupped on by the bull. She still hadn't let go of his face. ( Bulls don't like 20 lb dogs hanging from their face. )

I called her, she let go, and made it under the fence before the bull trampled her completely. (She had some damage to her spine after that).

Heroic. She knew what could happen. She'd been around the cattle enough. She still came to help me. She was my hero.

Oh, by the way, this little girl had grand mal seizures her whole life but she was smart as tack and quick as a wink.

and the bull...well....after a few weeks, I think he became hamburger.

When my male GSD was about 15 months old he ran into the woods on a walk, dropping his ball as he did so.

It wasn't normal behaviour. He does not chase animals etc. so I was a bit concerned and called him back. For the first (and only) time in his life he refused a recall.

I wasn't about to chase him so I just stood there. Less than a minute goes by and he comes out with a trash bag in his mouth. He came and put the bag at my feet (he is taught to give, not drop), something in the bag moved so I reached down and opened it.

There was a litter of kittens in it!
They were all still breathing and alive, so they must have been dumped only a few minutes earlier.