Alright, here's another "Spot" story. Maybe not so dumb after all. In the winter it's usually fairly mild down here. Around 50's high and 30's low. Spot would stay outside until it got very cold, like in the low 30's-20's. One fine cold day, it was going to be about 20F that night so spot got to come in at dark. we would go to bed around 9 or so and he was....supposed...to sleep on the kitchen rug by the back door. Well, this went on for several nights. I got up about 6 to get ready for elementary school and I would get a glass of milk and sit on the couch. I noticed that it was very warm where I was sitting. Spot was on the rug where he was supposed to be every morning. I asked my mother if she had been sitting there before I got up and she said no. This happened a couple of times so I devised a plan to catch the "culprit" that I suspected. That night spot came in and faithfully laid down on his rug by the back door. My mother and I said good night to each other as we went through the hallway to our rooms. Turned off the lights and made a big deal of "good night"....then quietly hid in the hallway to watch for the varmint. Boy that trap sprang quick too. He laid there a few minutes and then lifted his head to look around and purty as you please, he got up and trotted to the couch and plopped his behind down....right where I would sit in the morning. Of course we threw on the lights and he looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights. He got scolded and locked in the kitchen from then on. He was smart enough to do it when we went to bed and then jump down and go to his rug when he heard the alarm clock go off... Maybe, just maybe he wasn't as dumb as I thought he was....that couch was surely more comfortable than laying on a thin rug by the door. :laughing:
Had a Black Lab mix who I trained to bring in the newspaper.
We had a 1/2 mile long driveway, and she went out with the kids every morning to wait for the bus.
We would give the kids a used bread bag, they would put the paper in the bag, and when they got on the bus, Shadow would come proudly trotting back to the house with the paper. She always got a cookie, but it seemed as though she appreciated the praise, more than the cookie.
She would often stop along the way, drop the paper to chase a squirrel, (the bag was necessary to make certain that the paper stayed dry) then pick it up again to complete her journey home.
One day the kids were late for the bus, and ran to a neighbor's place, where they knew they could still get the bus.
Shadow, of course, followed them over there, but they had no time to give her OUR paper.
As the kids watched from inside the bus, Shadow pulled the newspaper out of the NEIGHBOR'S paper tube, and headed home.
We learned of the story when the kids got home that afternoon.
We always referred to Shadow as our "newspaper lady".
