Dumb Animals?

Posted on May 18, 2024 by mitchteemley

“Have you ever had an encounter with a ‘dumb animal’ that dramatically altered your perception of non-human ‘persons’”?

~The Wishing Map

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About mitchteemley

Writer, Filmmaker, Humorist, Thinker-about-stuffer
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40 Responses to Dumb Animals?

  1. joynealkidney says:
    May 18, 2024 at 6:05 pm

    The time our son’s cat saw me with a towel twisted atop my just-washed hair. That look!

    Reply
  2. Kate Duff says:
    May 18, 2024 at 6:54 pm

    Animals are incredibly clever, they just don’t speak our dialect and look different. That said, my dog manages to get her point across emphatically 😂

    Reply
  3. Rebecca Fegan says:
    May 18, 2024 at 7:11 pm

    I had a friend whose wife trained the dog to poke him in the butt if he told a pun. She would groan and that would be his cue.

    But, there were times when he’d do that even before she prompted him, so we concluded that there was something in my friend’s voice that indicated he was going to tell a pun and the dog recognized it and tried to nip it in the “butt.”

    Reply
  4. Janet from FL says:
    May 18, 2024 at 7:59 pm

    Smartest cat ever! We had a white cat who hated those annoying cricket noises. He would walk into the room where the noise cricket was, sit down, and make noises in his throat. The cricket would come out to him, he would grab the cricket, tear off one back leg, then let the cricket go, and walk out of the room! Job done! No more cricket noise! I saw it all, and laughed out loud. What a great cat he was!

    Reply
  5. Nancy Homlitas says:
    May 18, 2024 at 8:11 pm

    The intellect of a crow is simply amazing.

    Reply
  6. spwilcen says:
    May 18, 2024 at 8:26 pm

    Absolutely. Always a surprise, too.

    Reply
  7. Titus says:
    May 18, 2024 at 8:34 pm

    Wow

    Reply
  8. joyroses13 says:
    May 18, 2024 at 9:41 pm

    Yes! Animals often amaze me! Are you sure they can’t run for President?? Just saying…. 😂

    Reply
  9. Tim Harlow says:
    May 18, 2024 at 10:45 pm

    Every day with our cats and horses.

    Reply
  10. debrapurdykong says:
    May 18, 2024 at 10:46 pm

    Well, my cat who’d been watching me walk on our treadmill for ages, decided to give it a go. He jumped on, road to the end and plunked right off onto his butt, looking confused. I’d always thought he was smarter than that…but no. 🙂

    Reply
  11. vermavkv says:
    May 18, 2024 at 11:40 pm

    Very nice

    Reply
  12. bridge2nature says:
    May 19, 2024 at 12:37 am

    what a moment in nature, wow

    Reply
  13. Signora Sheila says:
    May 19, 2024 at 2:13 am

    No Mitch, animals are not dumb. They even speak foreign languages! I especially like your pic with the cat!

    Reply
  14. Sheree says:
    May 19, 2024 at 4:05 am

    Sheila’s correct. Animals are much smarter than we realised.

    Reply
  15. Tanvir Kaur says:
    May 19, 2024 at 4:07 am

    Incredible share

    Reply
  16. janetweightreed10 says:
    May 19, 2024 at 5:40 am

    I have always thought we humans were the dumb species and now at 78 I am very clear about that. Your header picture is wonderful.

    Reply
  17. RasmaSandra says:
    May 19, 2024 at 2:08 pm

    It’s that look my cat Freddie gives me when I start talking to him. It clearly says, “Now Ma, you gotta get it together.” So I was lucky I got a snap of that look and put the photo on my desktop. Now every morning when I get to my PC there is that look that tells me to get it together and get my work done.

    Reply
  18. Ginger Johnson says:
    May 19, 2024 at 5:18 pm

    I had a wonderful cat who loved to rustle around in the closet (a foot from the bed) after I turned the lights out at night. This was a joke. I couldn’t hear him laughing but I knew he was. He also loved the changing of the sheets. As soon as I tried to put a sheet or blanket on the bed, he would dash under it to the center of the bed so that he formed a great lump. My job was to say, “Where’s Kitty?” and then he would emerge and get a pet. He was giggling the whole time, just silently.

    Reply
  19. C.A. Post says:
    May 19, 2024 at 8:31 pm

    Actually, the reference to dumb animals uses “dumb” in its archaic sense of being mute, not stupid.
    However, they are still “life-spoken” creatures, not “life-breathed.”😉

    Reply
    • mitchteemley says:
      May 20, 2024 at 5:25 pm

      Hi C.A, right you are, but it’s seldom used in its original sense anymore. Hence, I’ve teasingly applied it in both senses here, referencing it’s colloquial usage as “unintelligent”–to point out how surprisingly well they actually do understand us–and it’s original sense, to point how effectively they do “speak” to us in their own unique ways.

      Reply
  20. heimdalco says:
    May 19, 2024 at 9:15 pm

    LOL … EVERY day. We share our lives / home with an 18-yr-old cat. No explanation necessary …

    Reply
  21. heimdalco says:
    May 19, 2024 at 9:16 pm

    … addendum … & sometimes she’s the smartest being in the house

    Reply
  22. JMN says:
    May 20, 2024 at 12:41 pm

    Yes!

    Reply
  23. FlowIntoWords says:
    May 20, 2024 at 1:39 pm

    I just watched Secrets of the Octopus recently. Their intelligence is fascinating! Feels like alien life right here on Earth.

    Reply
  24. peggywritesblog says:
    May 21, 2024 at 8:24 pm

    Great pics! I have a special heart for elephant hugs and my three dogs have learned how to get me to do their bidding. I just play along…

    Reply
  25. Zaki J. Doudak says:
    May 26, 2024 at 1:10 pm

    For some people, I would seem to think deer fits into that category, considering the term “deer in headlights,” and how many car accidents are caused by them every year. They are beautiful, nonetheless.

    Reply

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