Yes, yes they are. I have a one year old mutt at home and he comes up with new extortion ways every single day. First it was ripping up toilet paper if i said no, then it was scratching the walls and chewing the linoleum whenever i went to work, then it was fake allergy scratching (i have another dog that has severe allergies and she always gets more attention than him whenever she has these allergy attacks), then it was biting other people when I gave them attention instead of giving it to him and then lest week we reached a whole new level. He was diagnosed with colitis a couple weeks ago and i had to cook for him every day (rice and chicken) for 5 days. He loved the diet and felt much better when the antibiotics kicked in. We then slowly introduced him back to dry dog food (the same one he's been eating for months now) and at first he ate it but still ran to the kitchen whenever i was cooking because he thought it was for him. After three days he developed diarrhea again and we had to put him back on the rice diet. He seemed fine in a few days and we changed back to dog food (all of this was done according to the vet). He still ran to the kitchen whenever i was cooking and seemed visibly upset when it wasn't his rice. His poop was completely solid, he has been behaving completely normal since the antibiotics, he's definitely not sick anymore. Two days ago he suddenly got diarrhea again and we were all very confused as to why because nothing changed and he couldn't be sick again. The moment i cooked his rice (he hasn't even eaten it by that point) he was immediately cured of everything. I've never seen a dog this happy before. After consulting with the vet we then realized this was a new way of extortion. Basically he got upset he didn't get what he wanted and then stressed himself out to the point of getting diarrhea.
So yes, dogs are insanely smart.
So yes, dogs are insanely smart.
