So, Bella is pretty smart - this is a fact. She loves to work, think, learn new things. And she loves to explore new places, be it a new park or a parking lot. But sometimes how smart she is amazes even me.
Last night we were out for our walk. I had been home almost all day & really didn't feel like driving to a local park. So, we started out on a neighborhood walk. My idea was to either walk to the closest lake front park (30 minutes one way) or to just to simply walk around the area for an hour.
By the time we approached the decision making intersection, I had decided not to go to the park but to turn and walk the other route. Bella was in agreement to turning. However she soon started communicating to me that she wanted to cross the street. Bella has rottie stubbornness through and through. When she wants something or doesn't want to do something, she is loud and clear about it - kind of like a whiny child in the checkout aisle. This doesn't mean that she always gets what she wants. She will relent, but it takes some doing on my part. Rotties need to be convinced that they really want to do what you want them to do, that there is something in it for them. Thank goodness Bella is only part Rottie. Because, I tend to be a real pushover. :)
She let me know her desire to cross the street by attempting to walk into the street. When that didn't work, she stopped dead in her tracks and pointed towards the other side of the street w/her whole body. I was more interested in staying where we were. The street is a 4 lane road. Traffic was sparse at that time. But if we crossed, we would have to cross again & traffic may be heavier. So, I had her walk on with me. But she would not relent. She kept insisting that we go to the other side. Then I thought maybe she just wanted to smell something different. We always walk on the same side of the street. Maybe she was bored. & I was feeling a bit guilty for not taking her to a park where she could sniff deer scat to her heart's content. So, we crossed.
She walked in her normal fashion, sniffing this and that. All was well as we walked past the apartments that are on this side of the street. She walked past the ice cream stand on the other side of the street and looked for a moment like she wanted to cross again. But no. We came to the entrance of a condominium complex. Bella took a hard left. At the first street, she turned left again, and yet again after that. With a determined air she walked straight up to the steps of her
Grandma's house.
I kid you not.
"Grandma" is my husband's mother. Now, here's the thing - we have never walked to Grandma's house.
She has been to Grandma's in the car, but the route taken depends on who is driving. And she hasn't been to Grandma's that often, really. It isn't like we visit weekly or even monthly, and we don't always take her when we go. And Grandma doesn't live on the main street, so Bella had to remember which streets to turn down. This she did with amazing accuracy & without any prompts, discussion or encouragement of any kind from me. Going to Grandma's never crossed my mind.
You hear about dogs and cats finding their way home after getting lost. It's just kind of common knowledge that they can do that. How they do that is still really unknown. There are theories of course. Some are very
practical. Some are more
new age & energetic sounding.
But she wasn't finding her way home. She was going to Grandma's house - a place that she goes to occasionally. My opinion is that animals are simply smarter than we give them credit for being. & how Bella knew where she was going - whether she mapped the land by sight, or traveled by emotional waves - really doesn't matter to me. What does matter is the knowledge that if Bella were to get lost, she can find her way to a safe place with someone who loves her and will make sure that she gets home.
