How smart is your Fila?

[feddoc1]

Mine does ok. I recently finished one of three fenced areas and decided to put it to the test by putting both dogs in that area, mostly to see where the weak points were.

At first I just used the normal chain link latch. Then I found the gate open and the dogs out goofing off. Hmmm, did I forget to latch it? Same thing happened 15 minutes later. Only this time I watched the male use his nose to move the latch.


Next time they were in the pen, I decided to insert a lock through the latch, but did not lock it. About an hour later the dogs were out again. This time I reviewed security tape and saw the male use his nose to move the lock out of the latch, then use his nose to move the latch out of the way. Okay...what next? The next time the dogs were in that area, I locked the lock.

He has yet to make his way out of the pen.

[Kelly]

Hi, Feddoc...
I am new to this forum and I had to respond because your story is great. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing to have a dog that smart, eh? Damn!
My dog, I'm afraid, is on the other end of the spectrum. She is a five yr old fawn and is dumb as a post in some ways. We went walking down on the bayfront where I live to buy some fish from the boats. We were on a wharf when my dog just froze in her tracks...turned out her foot had slipped inbetween the boards and was stuck. Hmm. We tried and tried to get it out but it was jammed in there. Fortunately my dog is extremely well socialized and gentle, so she just stood there quietly while we wrestled with her foot. Eventually a crowd gathered...finally, a fisherman came out with a crowbar and pried up one of the planks enough for us to get her foot out. Yay! The crowd burst into applause and I shook the guys hand to thank him for his trouble. He turned and left and I started to walk away...and she froze. She stuck her foot in the same place.
Everyone groaned. Got the fisherman back and spent another five minutes prying up the same board to get the same foot out of the same place. My brother in law said..."Now that is one dumb dog."
Sigh.
I love her anyway :)

[Brasileirokid]

feddoc,

keep an eye out for locksmith tools...filas are sneaky lil bastards.

Kelly,

that story...too funny, I would have been embarrassed as hell.

[a_cowgirl]

Kelly & Feddoc loved your stories! I would say my Fila is probably in the middle zone between smart and "the lights are on but nobody's home" lol.

I thought I would throw in a funny story about my Brutus:

Brutus is about 130 lbs and a big sweetheart. He absolutely loves puppies! Well, one day he went to our neighbor's who live 1/2 a mile away (we are good friends and constantly have had Brutus over there to get to know them and Brutus thinks of them as part of the family). My neighbor's pit catahoula mix had just had a litter of pups about 4 weeks prior to this. They had their pups loose and the pups like to lay out on their porch. So Jolene (my neighbor) comes outside and turns the corner to find Brutus sitting in front of one of the puppies with his mouth completely over it! Jolene did not know what to think...whether Brutus was about to kill the pup or what. She stood there a second and realized that the pup was licking the inside of Brutus' mouth! He was just holding his mouth over it so it could continue licking his teeth like it wanted to! Brutus was extra careful to not close his mouth or do anything to hurt the pup the whole time. When the pup was done he just lifted his mouth up and let it go on its way.

Just thought I would throw that in...