Poodle intelligence
How many words do poodles understand?
Some dog trainers say that no dog can understand English. Others say that most dogs can understand 150+ words but poodle intelligence gives them the potential to understand as many as 400 words (which is more than some humans!). If you’re a chatty kind of person that talks to your dog all the time – and you have a poodle – that dog will very quickly learn a large vocabulary. I talk to my 18 month old poodle, Mademoiselle Coco Chanel, all day. Poodle intelligence astounds me. She stares at my face with her intense brown eyes while she’s soaking up any information she can, not only about my feelings but about what I’m saying. If you own a poodle you are continuously under surveillance.
Does poodle intelligence help them to understand human behaviour?
Coco seems able to predict my future actions by looking at what I’m doing. She knows when she sees me putting on my gloves, scarf and overcoat that I’m going to take her for a walk, long before I even mention that word. When I do say “time for a walk” and confirm her suspicions, she immediately runs to the laundry and stands underneath the hook that has her lead and harness on it and looks up at me expectantly.
At 5:00 in the afternoon or so I begin to prepare Coco’s meal. She anticipates this and will go to the kitchen and stand in front of the stove, waiting patiently. After I’ve cooked her food and placed it in the frig to cool, she’ll wait a few minutes, then she starts to nudge me in the thigh to remind me to check if it’s cool enough.
Poodles are really clever
One of the most intelligent things that Coco has ever done involved a treat. We keep treats in the refrigerator which makes them a bit chilly. Coco went to the refrigerator, and barked quietly, asking for a treat. I gave her a piece of dried beef heart. She took it across the living room to a patch of sunlight on the carpet. The sun was shining through double-glazed windows and she placed the cold little treat in the patch of sunlight and sat alongside it, waiting a few minutes for it to warm up before she ate it!
When I leave the room she is in, I let her know I’ll be back. She knows the difference between “back in a minute”, “back soon” and “back later”. For the second or third situation, I ask her if she wants to wait inside or outside. She’ll make her mind up according to the weather and the expected duration of my absence. That’s pretty clever.
Does poodle intelligence help them to communicate?
As well as appearing to understand my behaviour, Coco is very capable of communicating her own needs and feelings. She does this in a variety of ways. She uses various types of barks or yaps, wagging her tail, sighing deeply, running joyfully, shaking her coat vigorously, yawning, wriggling with pleasure, leaping in the air, fixing her dark brown gaze on one of us, growling (mostly during play-time) or nudging – each of which tells us something different about her condition and attitudes.
Using objects to get the point across
Sometimes, she will use an object to let you know what she wants. If she is thirsty and her water is low, she will push the bowl towards me with her snout. If she wants to play, she will pick up a ball and start running around the circuit in our house to invite me to chase her. When she taps the long-handled brush that hangs beside our back door, it rattles. She does this if she wants us to open the door for her. If that fails, she will resort to other behaviour, like resting her jaw on my lap and staring at me. Then she’ll move slowly towards the door, looking over her shoulder to ensure someone is following her.
If that doesn’t work, she will give a short, mild bark to get my attention, . If she needs to “toilet”, she will either nudge me in the thigh or stand still and look at me, silently and intently.
Making sure we get the message
When we are all going out shopping or something, we let her know we will be “back later”. She will often give us several short, sharp “yapping” barks which let us know she is annoyed that we are not taking her in the car, something she really enjoys.
Coco is more of a companion than any other dog I’ve ever had and I’m sure she is typical of the poodle breed.