My Dog's Smarter Than Your Dog

Well, maybe not.




Last week while I was cleaning the bathroom I heard the loud bark of a big dog. I went to the living room window and looking out I saw Turk, a neighbor's large yellow Labrador, standing at the gate. Turk stops by every once in awhile to get a doggie biscuit. He earns it by jumping up and giving whoever is offering him a biscuit a high five with his paw when they hold their hand up. Since I was in the middle of cleaning I ignored him knowing that he would come back later if I did not give him a biscuit right away.

A few minutes later I heard Duke bark and again I went to the window. I was surprised to see the front gate open and Turk in the yard chasing Duke. I figured I must not have shut the gate tightly when I came back from picking up the mail earlier that morning. Turk pushing on it must have accidental opened it. I got a dog treat, went outside, gave Turk his high five and biscuit, let him out of the yard, and shut the gate securely behind him.


Two nights later when I opened the front door to let the dogs in I found the front gate open. I told my husband that he must have left the gate open after we brought the dogs home from their walk but he said he was sure he closed it. The next day my husband again found the front gate open and our dogs out on the sidewalk alone with Turk. That is when we realized that Turk must be the one opening the gate. Since we did not want the dogs out of the yard unless we were the ones to let them out we got a length of chain and thread it though the gate making a loop. Then we hooked the loop over the fence post. We figure that would keep Turk from opening the gate- if it was him doing so. We were not really sure that he was the one opening the gate. We had not seen him open it so maybe one of our dogs was doing it.

This morning I heard the sound of the gate latch clinking against the post. It sounded like someone was having trouble getting the gate open. I told my husband that someone was at the gate and asked him to see if they were having trouble with the chain. He opened the front door and found out our visitor was Turk. The big lug was outside the gate trying to get the gate open by nudging the latch up with his nose but the latch kept hitting the chain. My husband called me to the door and when Turk saw the both of us he smiled and started wagging his tail. We gave him a biscuit for being so smart and sent him home.