Cats' and dogs' intelligence

The question of the intelligence of dogs came up today in a comic strip
newsgroup about that excellent comic strip, Get Fuzzy, which features Satch
the dog, Bucky the cat, and Rob their human. In yesterday's strip Satch
gives an extra-long speech, which prompted "Sydney" to write:

Does anyone else think that Satchel seems unusually eloquent in 3/12's
Get Fuzzy?

Another poster, "Carl" replied

I noticed that too. It might have worked better from Rob's mouth.
Satchel's intelligence varies depending on the needs of the strip
(as does Bucky's).

And this prompted me to write this (the cat part is a personal
observation!):

True. I'm also convinced that dogs' and cats' intelligence vary day to
day.
Kelsey Grammer says that Moose (now semi-retired and replaced by his son
Enzo) who portrayed Eddie, the dog on TV's Frasier, was brilliant and
could
do just about any trick he was programmed to do for the show. But there
were
days that he'd lose it and revert to being any old dog, running around the
set and wasting Panavision film in front of a live audience.

As for cats -
"You know, I think she's finally stopped scratching the sofa."
(Next day "Hey, get away from that sofa!"

As for people... ???

"Bobcat" wrote in message
. ..

...I'm...convinced that dogs' and cats' intelligence vary day to day.
Kelsey Grammer says that Moose (now semi-retired and replaced by his
son
Enzo) who portrayed Eddie, the dog on TV's Frasier, was brilliant and
could
do just about any trick he was programmed to do for the show. But there
were
days that he'd lose it and revert to being any old dog, running around
the
set and wasting Panavision film in front of a live audience.

As for cats -
"You know, I think she's finally stopped scratching the sofa."
(Next day "Hey, get away from that sofa!"

As for people... ???


This reaction to my post from someone named Mike Beede just popped up over
at that comic strip newsgroup. There's a lot of truth in what he says, and
it's what I also find attractive about cats!
______

I don't know how you'd tell with a cat, since their agenda
doesn't involve doing things people want them to do. They
might be smarter than Steven Hawking and I'd never know
because my wishes are totally irrelevant to them. Actually
that's what I find attractive about them. A dog puts his
head in your lap because *he has to*. A cat sits on your
lap because *he wants to*. [Note: pronoun trouble here
given most pets are radically sterilized--do we ever find
if that's the case with the GF animals?]

Bobcat wrote:


As for cats -
"You know, I think she's finally stopped scratching the sofa."
(Next day "Hey, get away from that sofa!"

You confuse "intelligence" with "willfulness". Cat's are intelligent
enough about the things that matter to them, they just don't much care
whether they please their humans or not. You can't "train" a cat not to
do something it WANTS to do - about the best you can manage is to teach
it not to let you CATCH it doing it!

I like to think our cats are fairly smart, but they sure can play dumb
when they want to. Fez in particular is quite good at pretending he
doesn't know he's not supposed to jump on the cutting board when I'm
preparing dinner.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
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I like to think our cats are fairly smart, but they sure can play dumb
when they want to. Fez in particular is quite good at pretending he
doesn't know he's not supposed to jump on the cutting board when I'm
preparing dinner.

Yeah, it's that darned kitty Alzheimers, where they completely forget their
housecat manners. (Or they forget you're watching!)

Sherry

"Bobcat" wrote in message
. ..
The question of the intelligence of dogs came up today in a comic
strip
newsgroup about that excellent comic strip, Get Fuzzy, which features
Satch
the dog, Bucky the cat, and Rob their human. In yesterday's strip
Satch
gives an extra-long speech, which prompted "Sydney" to write:

Does anyone else think that Satchel seems unusually eloquent in
3/12's
Get Fuzzy?

Another poster, "Carl" replied

I noticed that too. It might have worked better from Rob's mouth.
Satchel's intelligence varies depending on the needs of the strip
(as does Bucky's).

And this prompted me to write this (the cat part is a personal
observation!):

True. I'm also convinced that dogs' and cats' intelligence vary day
to
day.
Kelsey Grammer says that Moose (now semi-retired and replaced by
his son
Enzo) who portrayed Eddie, the dog on TV's Frasier, was brilliant
and
could
do just about any trick he was programmed to do for the show. But
there
were
days that he'd lose it and revert to being any old dog, running
around the
set and wasting Panavision film in front of a live audience.

As for cats -
"You know, I think she's finally stopped scratching the sofa."
(Next day "Hey, get away from that sofa!"

As for people... ???

Oh, people - definitely! One day I may come up with a flash of
brilliance or compose an eloquent speech for a Toastmasters meeting.
Other days - well, probably the worst was a few weeks ago. I go to a
movie almost every week. I use a wallet that hangs around your neck, so
I don't take my purse (handbag). Sometimes I automatically take it
along, and if that happens, I lock it in the trunk (boot) of the car
before going into the movie. I always lock my car when I leave it,
except when it is in my own garage. A few weeks ago, I came out of my
movie and noticed that I had forgotten to lock the car. Then I saw my
purse on the front seat! I was not only incredibly stupid, but
incredibly lucky that day.

Joy

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message ...


Bobcat wrote:


As for cats -
"You know, I think she's finally stopped scratching the sofa."
(Next day "Hey, get away from that sofa!"

You confuse "intelligence" with "willfulness". Cat's are intelligent
enough about the things that matter to them, they just don't much care
whether they please their humans or not. You can't "train" a cat not to
do something it WANTS to do - about the best you can manage is to teach
it not to let you CATCH it doing it!

You say I confuse intelligence with wilfulness. Actually, our kitties
frequently leave me confused! But you're right of course. Our little
brat-cat Emily has been told - loudly - many times not to chase her little
step-sister Sophie under the cedar chest, and, if we're close enough, has
even been squirted occasionally with a water spray bottle. Emily seems to
look apologetic as she escapes under some piece of furniture herself. But
it's all for show. She's biding her time until we're not around to see her
do it again. She never hurts Sophie who's too quick for her, and every day
Sophie is growing bigger and more assertive. Some day she'll solve the
problem herself, feline-to-feline. In situations like ours, I guess our role
as human serfs is simply to love 'em and let 'em be cats.

On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 10:19:54 -0800, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:



Bobcat wrote:


As for cats -
"You know, I think she's finally stopped scratching the sofa."
(Next day "Hey, get away from that sofa!"

You confuse "intelligence" with "willfulness". Cat's are intelligent
enough about the things that matter to them, they just don't much care
whether they please their humans or not. You can't "train" a cat not to
do something it WANTS to do - about the best you can manage is to teach
it not to let you CATCH it doing it!

Oh yeah. I just have to think of how I know Sammy acts when we go
outside. There are limits to how far I want Sammy to go. When she
starts to go outside the accepted boundaries, I'll call her back. If
she feels like it she'll turn around and come back.

Of course, at least 50% of the time she tries to extend the boundary.
She'll either stop and lay down where she is, or just keep walking,
pretending she doesn't hear me calling. Of course her lashing tail and
ears cocked back at me sort of give it away. If I threaten to get the
bottle, one of the words she knows, she looks back to see if I'm
actually getting up. She'll watch, and once I pick up the bottle she
almost always starts sauntering back. Course sometimes I actually have
to head in her direction, but she knows the exact range of the spray
bottle, waits until I'm "almost" in range, and then takes off running
home.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky

[remove Junk for email]
Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html
Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html

Oh yeah. I just have to think of how I know Sammy acts when we go
outside. There are limits to how far I want Sammy to go. When she
starts to go outside the accepted boundaries, I'll call her back.

Cherokee used to push the boundaries, and when I'd go to pick him up and carry
him back, he had this odd trick. He would lie on the concrete, and somehow
press hiimseelf down, making it almost impossible to squeeze your fingers under
him. He'd look for all the world liike a big fat black bowling ball with a
head.

Sherry

Victor Martinez wrote in message ...
I like to think our cats are fairly smart, but they sure can play dumb
when they want to. Fez in particular is quite good at pretending he
doesn't know he's not supposed to jump on the cutting board when I'm
preparing dinner.


Heh. Mike isn't the brightest of cats, but I think he's smarter than
he usually lets on. When DH and I were dating, he saw me
short-circuit Mike's intended leap into the china cabinet; I shouted
"NO" and Mike immediately sat down and started innocently bathing. DH
said "Oh, he *does* know that word!" Mikey had completely faked him
out. :-P

------
Krista