Rufus...Dog Genius, Who Refuses to Shut Up

So, I have a lot of thought provoking ideas in my head for future posts, but today I thought I would keep the topic light.

I have recently discovered that my tiny, scruffy, dancing, (yes, he dances and on two feet no less, but that is a topic for another post) dog Rufus is somewhat of a genius.

The other night I caught him literally opening a door. Granted this wasn't a normal sized door; it was the door to his crate, which is pretty level to him. But he did open it, and not the nose nudging kind of open that I have seen many dogs, including him, successfully attempt. This was the real deal; he stuck his little paw through the crate, lifted up, and pushed back until the door swung open. I was pretty impressed, so naturally I confused the poor guy to no end making him repeat the process a million times. The command Go to Bed worked well for this, but after what was probably the 20th time or so, he got so hyper and disoriented that he ran up to the crate and didn't really know what to do. I felt sorry for my little genius, so I stopped torturing him. At least for the night. lol

To take the post in a moderately different direction...I saw a

bumper sticker the other day that I absolutely fell in love with. It said- Wag More Bark Less. Very cool. Rufus needs to take this advice; he is a crazy barker. I think he tries to compensate for his small size, by letting his presence known to everyone and everything. He is very loud for such a small little thing, and for the past few days it seems he has been kicking it up a notch as Emeril Lagasse would say. He may be a genius, but Rufus has a thing or two to learn about being quiet! :)