The Smartest Dog in the Room

My dog Scout is very smart.

These are just a few of the things she does almost daily: walks off leash and stops at intersections, plays hide and seek for hidden dog treats, goes unasked to her crate when I pick up my briefcase, fetches toys by name, prompts me when it is her dinner time, scratches at the door when she want to go to the backyard, sits at the front door when she wants to sit on the front porch, looks and motions with her nose to her box of treats in the hopes of getting a little snack.

And yet...and yet...Scout's greatest nemesis is a shoe.

On nice days, we used to leave the back door open so Scout could go outside whenever she wanted.  Once, the wind blew the door shut and Scout got stuck outside.  We felt so bad when we found her sitting quietly at the back door that we gave her a dog treat.

That is how Scout learned to close the backdoor with her nose.  She fooled us for a while, but then we saw her and the gig was up.  We put a shoe in front of the door so that it could not close all the way.  But hope springs eternal.  Everyday, at least once, Scout tries to close that door with her nose.  The shoe stops the door.  Scout sits and waits for a treat anyway.  But she has to close the door all the way to get a treat.  She knows this because, every once in a while, we will forget the shoe or it will be dislodged, and then she'll close the door, and then she'll get a treat.

Everyday I think: maybe today Scout will learn to MOVE the shoe.  I have been waiting years.  So has Scout.

Keep your goddess pictures coming! Here are some more:

This is Shelley.  She took this picture in Mexico so let's make her Coatlicue, who gave birth to the moon and the stars.

This is Debra.  She took this photo 20 years ago when she was an artist in New York.  This was before she got married and had a child.  This is when her life belonged to her alone and channeled Athena.