Here are some of the funnier Bouvier stories I have found on the Bouvier mailing list as wel as some of the online services.
Subj: Bouv I.Q.
Date: 95-10-02 17:08:24 EDT
From: fschroed@d.umn.edu (fred schroeder)
Sender: owner-bouvier@nilenet.com
Reply-to: bouvier@nilenet.com
To: bouvier@nilenet.com
Ever since I read Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs I've been watching
the Borders, Labs and Goldens at dog school, trying to see what made them
so much more intelligent than Bouvs. So far I'm baffled. They are SO
obsequious! My dict. defines intelligence as the capacity to apprehend
facts and propositions and their relations and to reason about them.
SOOOOO...I was painting Saskia's high jump and broad jump in the
garage when a chipmuck ran in followed by Sas. The chip. hid behind
stacked lumber and Sas has learned she must not knock Fred's lumber
down. She sat there a while and then left. I thought she had given up.
I should have known better, she can sit under a tree for hours waiting
for a chip. to come down. In a few minutes she trotted back in followed
by a
trotting Sabastian (flamepoint Himalayan>. Basty squeezed behind the wood
and Sas headed for the other end of the lumber to be ready when Basty
flushed the chip. Now what's interesting about all this is that Sas went
around to the lake side of the house, opened the deck door, went into the
house found Basty, woke him up and somehow communicated that the "game
was afoot" and got him to follow her. No they didn't get the chip. It
went up the side of the garage and perched on the rafters scolding. Next
time Sas will probably bring Winston along (sealpoint Himmie who can climb>.
Possibly what Sas is really thinking about at dog school is how to beat
the system instead of "just coloring the damn ducks yellow"
Jan and Saskia
Funny Bouv Stories
Date: 95-12-27 16:15:03 EST
From: Pgatts
Three times in the past 10 days, while I'm eating lunch or breakfast at the counter - Zoe
runs to the front door and starts barking. Of course, this alerts the rest
of the pack, who also run to the door and join in the fracass. I walk to the
door to see who they are barking at - no one is at the door - not a soul in
sight - when I turn around again, Zoe has disappeared from sight (the rest of
the dogs are still barking, looking bewildered). When I return to the
kitchen, my toast and/or sandwich is heading out the dog door in Zoe's mouth.
You think I would have caught on the second time it happened.
Bill teSubj: Re:Poor Pam/Billy
Date: 96-01-19 08:05:32 EST
From: BillH96007
Pam,
Don't feel too bad, you're not alone. Shadowfax successfully had her way with
Billy for quite some time before he figured out what she was doing. He bought
this humongous Suburban with separate rear a/c to squire the beasts about
town. And he was under the illusion it afforded him some semblance of
protection, and therefore extra time to escape, during 'Chase the Primate'
when he could place Shadowfax on one side of it while he was on the other
side.
However (oddly he thought), Shadowfax always met him face to face, no matter
which way he went. Finally one evening the light bulb went on. "She is
looking under the car to see which way I'm going, isn't she!!!!" he demanded.
I told him yes, indeed, this was what she was doing and gently mentioned it
had taken him some considerable time to understand why shadowfax always knew
which way to go. He mumbled something about dogs not being supposed to be
able to do this sort of thing. Right. Dogs don't think. Well perhaps not; but
Bouviers do.
I suppose I should feel some shame (genetics and all, you know), but I've
passed this story on in the hopes you will begin to feel better about
yourself.
From: Liz Bivens <typhoon@nbaycwc.cwconnect.ca>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 13:48:44 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Intelligence
Hello All,
I have a funny story to tell about the amazing intelligence that these dogs
possess. Every afternoon when my husband comes home from work, he changes
his clothes so that we can take Typhoon out for his afternoon walk. Typhoon
and I were in the bedroom talking with my husband while waiting for him.
Unfortunately, Typhoon was trying to relay his message to us that he was in
urgent need to go out immediately. My husband and I were not paying
attention and spending too much time talking about our day. Then I got up to
go to the bathroom, which is adjoined to the bedroom, for a "number 1" while
my husband left the room to get something. Typhoon was getting very
frustrated because we were not making it a priority to get on his walk. So,
Typhoon rushed into the bathroom and pulled me out before I was able to
"go", dragging me to the bed and dumping me there. I laughed and told him he
was a silly dog and that I really had to "go", so I got up to try again.
Typhoon did the same thing again at which point my husband came back and I
told him what had happened. My husband told me to try it again so he could
witness this strange behaviour, and of course Typhoon still would not let me
use the bathroom. He began to growl and circle the bed warning me that I was
not to leave. Everytime I tried Typhoon would capture me and throw me back
onto the bed, at times even standing over me to make sure I couldn't leave.
By this time it was getting rather urgent for me to "go" because the
laughing was putting much too much pressure on my bladder. I finally asked
Typhoon why he wouldn't let me go and then I figured out that he was trying
to show me what it was like for him when he was in urgent need to go outside
and we would ignore him. So I promised him that I understood and that I
would just quickly "go" and then promptly take him on his walk without
further ado. Typhoon then let me up but followed closely to make sure I
stuck with my promise. I'm always amazed at how much he understands and is
able to think of ways to get what he wants.
Does anyone else have a story showing how the dog thought of a plan to get
his point across?
Liz Bivens
Typhoon@mail.cwconnect.ca
Sudbury - Home of the Big Nickel
From: BillH96007@aol.com
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 11:03:40 -0400
Subject: Re: Humor/Bouvier cleverness
Last night one of our Bouvs displayed the kind of behavior that so endears
them to us. The older male Bouvier, Sherman, will happily eat poor old Mr.
Bear (an elder Chow who is the consummate gentleman). Therefore Mr. Sherman
is generally gated in the kitchen, away from Mr. Bear. Last night, Billy had
Mr. Bear in the den, so the kitchen gate was not closed. Sherman was in the
kitchen, asleep, and his buddy Mosby walked in to take up his usual spot with
Sherman. Mosby looked at the open gate, and walked over and closed it with
his head. He knows it is supposed to be closed when Sherman is there, and I
suppose it disturbed him because something wasn't the way he thought it
should be. When he pushed it closed, it didn't latch (it has to be lifted to
latch), so he gave it a much harder push. Still it didn't close, so he had
another go at it. When it didn't latch this time, he opened it all the way,
then gave it a really hard shove. It still didn't latch, and he gave one of
those loud, airy, beard-flying Bouvier 'humphs' and walked away. It still
makes us laugh when we think about it.
Bill te