Its funny how many people try to shoo their dogs off the furniture when I arrive for their first in-home training appointment. Some of these people really don’t allow their dogs on the furniture. Their exuberant young dog is so focused on his efforts to investigate the stranger that smells strongly of liver and a pack of dogs that he really has forgotten the house rules. It is obvious to me that these owners are genuinely shocked by their dog’s behavior, and they take immediate action to remove the dog from their relatively hair-free couch. On the flip side, I meet owners that look smilingly at their dog as he sits on the hair-covered couch, and then suddenly remember that “THE DOG TRAINER” is watching, and start trying to remove a rather confused dog from his usual perch. These are the ones that make me want to giggle. I ask them, “Do you usually let him sit on the couch?” and they sheepishly reply, “yes”, as if they are confessing to some great sin.

Dog intelligence is a topic that I find fascinating. People often tell me that they want a certain breed of dog because that breed is smart. But what exactly is intelligence…and do people really want to live with a smart dog? Professor Stanley Coren has put together some tests for owners that are supposed to measure their dogs’ intelligence. He has a book and video full of tests, but 6 of them are readily available on the internet. I thought it would be fun to test my dogs and see how they fared. Our three contestants for “Smartest Dog in the Scarioni Household” are: Edgar, a 3 year old Border Terrier adopt ed from Border Terrier rescue 1 ½ years ago; Tina, a 12 year old pitbull mix adopted from the Petaluma Animal Shelter 11 years ago; and Butch, a 12 year old Shih Tzu adopted from the Bakersfield SPCA 11 ½ years ago.