Acting Dumb?

I wonder if Puggy is acting dumb most of the time. If he is dumb, then the following will not be true. So I guess he truly is the most intelligent dog in my household. You've all heard the stories of how irritating he is. He's always doing things you don't want him to do. Then he tries to get out of trouble by acting all innocent & cute looking.

Sent Ton Ton & Puggy for check up & vaccination yesterday under Dr Siah. I had already bathed Ton on Fri night so I bathed Puggy & Wang yesterday afternoon. Since they're all clean, I let Puggy have free run of the house. We even let Puggy sleep in the room with us last night.

Jeff left for class early morning & let Puggy out when he left. My dad put Puggy back into the balcony when my parents went out at 8 am. That was how I found him, sitting on the other side of the baby gate looking bored when I woke up at 10 am. I went ahead to let him out. They ran about, rested & ran about some more.

Then it was time for me to head to Bugis to meet Jeff. I saw shit in Puggy's pee tray & Ton will never use Puggy's. I'm constantly being amazed by Puggy. I would have thought he will try not to go back in for fear he'll be enclosed in again. But he has proven me wrong time & again. I cleared the shit & at the same time cleared Ton's pee on Ton's tray. I didn't want Puggy running about unsupervised in the house. For all I know, he may start chewing on my wooden furnitures again.

I hate luring him into the balcony with treats. So I tried to command him. My left hand on the gate door, my right hand pointing to inside the balcony, I told Puggy, "Puggy, go in." He looked at me, looked at the balcony & back at me again. I repeated the statement. Then, to my surprise, he started trotting into the balcony & even waited for me to close the gate!

At Bugis, I told Jeff what happened & my thoughts on it. I feel that he's obeying becoz he thinks I'll be more likely to let him out again if he obeys. Jeff told me something that confirms my suspicions. Once, Jeff let him out but he was getting too rowdy. Jeff immediately did what I did. Pointed to the balcony & commanded him to go in. Puggy immediately fell to a down position & acted all guai. Since he's no longer making a ruckus, Jeff walked away. As soon as Jeff was out of sight, he heard sounds of Puggy's rough play again. He poked his head out to the living room & upon seeing Jeff, he dropped back to the down position & tried to look all innocent.

I think we have a very smart dog here. We really couldn't stand him in the past. We would get so mad with him that all we wanted to do is to strangle him or smash him against the wall. Jeff did by the way. Me, I hit him till my hands sting from the impact. In fact, our relationship didn't improve until we went for obedience. I was fed up with him & I thought it would give him something to do & burn some excess energy. It went beyond that. We bonded as we went through the lessons & did the exercises together.

Now I can really say that I'm glad to have him. I'm glad that he's part of my life. I'm glad that he's with us becoz I think he would have been given up long time ago should others have gotten him. Guess what? He is as silly as Ton. Or maybe it's an act. He knocked his head standing on 2s while under the table to put his front paws on my lap just like Ton always do. Unlike Ton, he will never allow you to stroke or pet him without trying to lick your hands & coat it with his thick slimey & stinky saliva. He will also never allow you to kiss him without spraying your face with a mist of his nose discharge. He's such a special boy. They are really 1 of a kind.