Karen, your story reminded me of my childhood best friend. I bought Lady, an Irish setter-Yellow Lab cross, for 20 bucks, money I got for my 7th birthday. She was my best friend for the next 14 years. She was beautiful, sweet, loving and always there. Through my teenage years, that dog heard every story I couldn't tell my parents, her fur soaked up many tears. I still keep her picture in my office. She was a wonderful dog, but she was as dumb as they come. She could never figure out that it was her tail wacking her! She never learned that porcupines were not her friend or that skunks were not cats. I miss that silly mutt!

Huskies generally score low on the intelligence tests because they are extremely difficult to train and have no desire to please their owner. However, I don't believe trainablity and intelligence are related. Muskwa actually problem solves. If he can't get to something he wants, he'll find a way. He even uses sticks and other objects as tools. I think that takes way more intelligence than learning to come on command--something Muskwa, as most huskies, does only when he feels like it!

Pingo unfailingly knows the way home--no matter what trail we are on or how lost I am. She knows. She is amazing at recognizing bad ice. If Pingo balks at crossing ice, we go another way. She knows. That to me is way smarter and more valuable than the fact that she knows "gee" & 'haw". Knowing how to get home and what lake not to cross could save my life some day.

We used to think Earle was really dumb, but now I think he's actually a genius. He just pretends to be dumb because it's easier. No one expects anything of Earle, none of the other dogs fight with him or challenge him, he goes along with whatever happens. He gets lots of extras because he is so easy to get along with--he goes to town, goes to work with my husband, does demos and presentations. He's not dumb at all. He knows the path of least resistance is easier.