Love Some Lulu: Smarty Pants

I have been told by all the goldendoole owners/breeders I’ve met how smart their dogs are. Apparently the poodle golden retriever mix USUALLY produces highly intelligent dogs. Somehow Lulu missed the boat. My sweet girt, bless her heart, is a bit of an airhead. I can throw a toy while she’s watching me, it will land a few feet in front of us, and she still can’t find it! She’ll sniff around and I’ll have to walk right up to it before she sees it. Erik and I were throwing her squeaky in the backyard and she grabbed it to bring back to us, dropped it, got confused and came back empty handed. She looked at us and had a “duh” moment, and went back for the toy. Silly girl. She also has trouble figuring out which way doors open…doors that she goes in and out of everyday. She always stands on the wrong side so she has to do a little scoot dance when we’re trying to go through. Sometimes I’ll walk in the backyard with her, point to a squirrel or bird, and she’ll always run the opposite direction. I laugh every time. She knows what I’m saying and that I’m trying to show her something, she just can’t put it all together.

Now, when it comes to being sneaky, she’s practically Einstein. She will hide backyard contraband in her mouth, trot in like nothing is going on, and then she’ll disappear to her hiding spot to munch on whatever she’s not supposed to have. One day she was under my dresser and I bent down to pet her and she turned her head. I thought something was wrong. I got down and tried to see if she was ok and discovered she was hiding a ponytail holder in her mouth.

When I try to give her pills, I’ll wrap them up in cheese or turkey, but she somehow manages to eat the food and spit out the pill. She’ll even go so far as to pretend she ate her pill, run in the living room, and then spit it out when I’m not watching her. She’s also impossible to catch when she doesn’t want to come inside. My mom can call her lab and she’ll come like a good girl 90% of the time. Lulu will look at you when you say her name and make her “I’ll come in when I’m good and ready” face. This is not fun when it’s cold and rainy outside.

I guess she uses all her brain power to be mischievous. If she wasn’t so cute I would do a better job of getting on to her!