Intelligence...

In my house, there is a debate going on. This little debate is about, well, our dog Boaz. You see, my roommate Molly is convinced that he is really smart. She says that you can test a dog's intelligence by putting a towel or blanket over its head. If the dog gets out from under the blanket in a timely manner, he is intelligent. If he just sits there, he is, well, stupid I guess.

Molly has preformed this little test on Boaz several times. He always manages to escape the towel in seconds. Intelligent? I think not. Any animal that eats his own pooh is not, in my book very smart.

We love Boaz. I call him my "little blessing" but he is not without faults. Due to the fact that I used to live on the 14th floor of an apartment building, I have paper trained him. Okay, okay, this is an exaggeration. I have attempted to paper train him. He doesn't always seem to make it to the intended place to relieve himself. He usually ends up doing his job next to the place he should. This is a constant frustration for me. I can’t decided, is he just not that intelligent or is it that he is too smart for his own good and knows that this bothers me?

Many of my Chinese friends think Boaz (or BoBo as my roommate affectionately calls him) is extremely intelligent. It never ceases to amaze them that Boaz, a Chinese born dog, can understand and respond to English. I guess they have not taken into consideration the fact that he lives with people who only speak to him in English.

If anyone tries to make fun of Boaz, I will defend him. However, I myself have no problems with pointing out his faults. How can something that sleeps, eats, plays, scratch himself, and lick his behind be considered intelligent? I for one, am not convinced that he is…