My Smart Pet

No Birdbrains Here 

I should’ve known our cockatiel, Sara Lee, was special when we introduced her to our new baby and the bird immediately began speaking in a gentle baby voice rather than her usual booming squawks. In the coming days, Sara Lee would squawk every day in the late afternoon. I checked the door and found no one. Then, five minutes later, I’d hear my daughter stir. After several days of this, whenever Sara Lee squawked, I went to check the baby instead of the door. Sure enough, our bird was letting me know that the baby was beginning to wake up from her nap. I loved getting to be there as my daughter woke up each afternoon. Sara Lee was the best babysitter a mom could ask for.

—Susan Heitsch

Sticking to the Schedule

Every day at 5 p.m., my Sheltie, Penny, stands in front of my recliner and lets me know it’s time for dinner. Not her dinner—mine. She won’t even glance at her food until she sees I’ve eaten mine. Then, at 9 p.m., she gets in my bed and waits for me to come settle down. Once I do, she heads off to her bed in the living room.

—Janis Endsley

Purring Inspection

We call our Siamese cat, Monty, the Inspector. That’s because he doesn’t let anything—from a package to your purse—through the door without a proper search. Last summer, I cleaned a bathtub that almost never gets used, then went upstairs. Monty was soon pawing at my elbow. I figured he wanted food, so I followed him downstairs, but was surprised when he turned into the living room instead of the kitchen. There was water everywhere! Apparently, the tub’s pipes had cracked from lack of use. Monty came up to get me, then led me down two flights of stairs to show me the problem.

—Cathy Brooks

A Measure of Intelligence

I bought a load of 150-foot-long rubber tire strips to build a padded fence for my horses. The strips were extremely heavy and needed to be cut into 50-foot sections. I set a marker in the grass and began laying out the strips so I would know where to cut. My Great Dane, Banner, joined me, grabbing the ends of the strips and dropping them right at the marker as he saw me do. He worked the entire day with me, just as well as a human helper could have.

—Dorothy Lee

When Opportunity Knocks

Our 27 hens spend the day foraging in the yard, then return to the warmth and shelter of the henhouse at night. One night, a hen named Pullet must have roamed farther afield than usual and missed reentry to the coop. Finding herself locked out on a brisk night, she did what any bright young hen would do: knock. My wife heard someone at our front door and was surprised to find Pullet flapping her wing against the door, waiting to be collected.

—Jerrold Kuyper

Self-Cleaning Crew

One day, we were out of the house for much longer than expected, and our very smart Chihuahua, Pixie, had an accident on the floor. When we got home, we found her next to the puddle looking very guilty—with a sponge at her feet and the cabinet door under the sink open. I always wondered: If we had come back even later, would she have tried to mop it up herself too?

—Betty Hass

Buddy System

One of our calves came down with pinkeye and was temporarily blinded, so it relied on the rest of the cow herd to lead it around. One day, when the herd was returning to the barn, one of the other calves suddenly stopped and ran back the way it had come. Five minutes later, it reappeared with the blind fellow following close by its side. It was the sweetest—and sharpest—thing I’d ever seen from these big beasts.

—Trudy Olsen

Waiting for the Shoe to Drop

Our dog Chase­—aptly named—runs after our cats when they’re left alone, so we put him in his kennel when we leave the house. One day, I noticed that Chase was waiting by the kennel as I got ready for work. But on weekends, when I was getting ready to go out and feed the horses, he’d wait by the door. It seemed he knew what day it was—but how? In time, I realized it was my footwear. Shoes mean I’m going to work and he’s going in his kennel. Boots mean we’re going to the barn. I switched my footwear a few times to test him and confirmed I was right.

—Rande Blanchard

A Lightbulb Moment

Our cat Charlie wants attention when he wants it. When he feels ignored, he walks to the nearest light switch, looks back at us several times (one last chance to change our minds) and flips the switch. Having successfully forced us to get up to turn the lights back on or off, he offers a meow that seems to say, Are you paying attention now?

—Rebecca Smith

After the Beep

My husband found Lester as a kitten. Lester loves my husband so much. He follows him everywhere and watches intently no matter how dull the task. For years, my husband’s alarm went off at 5 a.m., and Lester was right there to make sure he got up for work. Eventually, my husband retired, but Lester did not—he still jumped on the nightstand at 5 a.m. every day, meowing until my husband got up. One day, by accident (so we thought), Lester pressed the button on our answering machine that announced the time and day. He did it day after day at exactly 5 a.m. until we replaced the machine.

—Carol Roesemann

Her Best Trick Yet

When she was a puppy, we trained our Doberman pinscher to tap the basement door when she needed to go out. One day years later, she tapped the door, but when I opened it, she ran back upstairs. I returned to the kitchen to find she’d just needed a few unsupervised seconds to scarf my lunch. Imagine my surprise when weeks later, just as she had regained my trust, she pulled the same stunt. Now, I put my plate in the microwave (which we call the safe zone) if she taps the door during mealtime.

—Jane Woldring