On November 21st, Tank turned one year. It’s hard to believe that I’ve had him for nearly a year now. For months he looked like a black and tan Labrador, but recently he has started to look more and more like a Rottweiler (I had spent the better part of the year biting my nails, hoping he wasn’t doomed to be tall and lanky forever).

He has slowed in growing taller and is now starting to show more muscle definition; weighing in at about 75lbs, but still bulking up. A diet of meat, bones, vertebrae (with spinal cord), some internal organs, vegetables, and some supplements (based on the recipe I found on this site) has really paid off. The results were immediate. He practically exploded with so much more energy than while on the regular dog food diet. No more itching, coughing, and ‘monumental amounts of lawn fertilizer.’ Also, much to my neighbors’ disappointment, the introduction of raw meat hasn’t turned him into a wild beast intent on killing.

There has also been some changes to his personality. Even my friends and family are beginning to take notice. His curiosity still leads the way, but he doesn’t excite quite so easily anymore (except for his bone though…that never changes). He is still people-friendly, but he tends to greet people he knows first. With strangers he has become more hesitant, whereas a few months ago he would’ve broke his neck trying to greet them. At home, he has learned to bark at strange noises and pays little attention to the mail man, other dogs that routinely bark, and any other daily noise. He always barks when someone knocks on the door. I do love puppies, but it is nice to see Tank begin to change from a ‘puppy’ into what will hopefully be a well-balanced and even-tempered adult Rottweiler.

Another thing that mildly concerns me are some of the things that Tank does. It leads one to want to draw conclusions, but here I will simply state what he does, and nothing more.

Usually when I let Tank out of his crate, I will half-way lock his crate door (there are two sliding locks, and I only move one bar over enough to keep the door closed). I have become rather lax with Tank, so on occasion I will tell him ‘upstairs.’ He’ll bound up the stairs in the goofiest fashion you’ve ever seen, and sit impatiently in front of our bedroom door. I make him ‘sit’ and ‘stay,’ I walk in, then call him in. When I called him in that day, he wanted into his crate because he knew that once he was in his crate and sitting properly, food would magically appear. He was so anxious to get into the crate that he didn’t wait for me. Instead, he bumped the top lock with his nose (remember it wasn’t in a completely locked position), bumped the door all the way open, and rushed in. There he was sitting as still as his could, looking up at me with anticipation, and I was left scratching my head.

From that day on, he continued to bump the lock open on his own, and so I had gotten used to not having to open his crate door at this stage of the routine. A few weeks later, same schedule. This time he sat impatiently in front of the bedroom door. Before I could get to the door, he decided to ‘bite’ or ‘mouth’ the doorknob. Now you know what I was surely thinking. I made him ‘sit’ and ‘stay,’ and opened the door myself.

Most of the time, he will ‘sit’ and ‘stay,’ while I open a door to let him inside, outside, or into the upstairs room. Occasionally, he will try to ‘mouth’ the doorknob. I’ve never seen a dog do this.

Now like I said before, this does lead one to want to draw hasty conclusions -- perhaps not the correct conclusions. What is really going on here? Are dogs really this smart or am I missing something?

Sounds like a nice smart pup to me! My pup gets confused and just starts smashing into the crate if the door is closed but not locked, lol. Good luck with Tank!,
AL

Dogs are very keen observers. He watches you open the door and he sees how you do it. I don't see how this requires a great leap of intellectual ability. In fact it's really quite simple, if your dog has any reason at all to be interested in how you do something. Not all dogs care. So you not only have a smart pooch, you have one that is actually interested in learning things. It is like shaping behaviour (clicker training). Your dog knows what he has to do to get his reward, and is trying to figure out how to hurry things up a bit. I've had dogs like this and have fun staying one step ahead, haha.

Sounds like a great dog, Jennifer! Most of my dogs have learned how to open latch gates, one learned how to open the fridge... I taught several dogs how to open doors with lever handles, and turn lights on and off. It is wonderful to have an intelligent, observant, problem solving dog.. until you start noticing stuff missing out of the fridge