If there’s one thing I’ve learned from isolating so long, it’s that we’ve underestimated the intelligence of our pets. Who knew they only pretend to have the intelligence of children. In reality, they are masterminds who rule the household by domination. They carefully stalk us, watching our every move  to gain power over us. We think we’re playing with them, but it’s actually the reverse.

Our dog Mia was still not housebroken a year-and-a-half after we got her, and I was at my wit’s end. Then a pet store owner shared the trick of putting a low-hanging set of bell on the door, so Mia could ring it when she wanted to go out. Within three days, the problem was solved. You see, since she doesn’t bark, that’s the tool she needed to train us to let her out!

Shortly after, our family adopted two cats whose owner had passed, I was sitting at my desk working,  and I heard the bells ring quite emphatically. Did she have to go out again? No, she was sleeping on the sofa. Did the door blow open? Did a family member come home early?

No, my little gray cat, Pepper, took a  lesson out of Mia’s training manual. He was sitting at the door, insistently ringing the bells, looking from me to the door to let me know he, too, wanted to go out into  territory forbidden to him.

Still don’t believe me? Why just this past weekend, our second cat LeeLee picked up a bottle top, brought it to my daughter’s boyfriend, and taught him how to play fetch with her, as you’ll see in the video above.

Now you may think your cat won’t follow directions, or that you’re teaching your dog tricks, but I assure you, they are training YOU. Have you ever asked a family member to bring you something  rather than disturb the pet on your lap? And how often do you disrupt making your own dinner to feed the pets trolling beneath your feet? Are you pushpinned to the bed with a pet on either side, so you have to do nocturnal acrobatics to get out of bed? Or maybe you have a dog who barks orders at you? Why my sister’s dog has her trained to the tone of his bark. She can distinguish when he wants to go out, when he wants her husband to sit next to her on the sofa instead of in his lounge chair, when he’s demanding treats, and when he wants his daily car ride.

I tell you, we worry about AI (Artificial Intelligence), when we should really be concerned about the other AI (Animal Intelligence)! They just may take over the world.

Hmm….right about now, I’m not sure that would be a bad thing.

Editorial published in April 23 issue of Beyond the Nest’s Free weekly newsletter.