OH...You're right about Schnauzers being intelligent..I just have to share this funny story about my first Schnauzer, Fritz, and I swear this is a true story.
Fritz was a consolation prize from my husband when a colt I raised unexpectedly died. He helped me through the sadness of that, and we had a tight bond. Fritz was very intelligent and seemed to just understand most things I told him to do.
When we began having the Sunday paper delivered, and the first Sunday it arrived, I opened the door and told Fritz to go get the paper. Fritz ran down the porch stairs into the middle of the yard and grabbed the paper. It was a very large paper wrapped in a plastic bag. He drug that paper all the way across the yard and up the flight of 8 stairs to the porch and presented it to me. I was so impressed!
The next Sunday I opened the door and told him to go get the paper, he reluctantly headed down the stairs and with some coaxing grabbed the paper and pulled it over to the stairs. With a lot more coaxing from me he pulled it up the first stair..but that was as far as he was going with it. I conceded and went down and got the paper.
The next Sunday I opened the front door and told Fritz to go get the paper..He ran down the stairs, straight over to the paper, turned around, faced me and lifted his leg and pissed all over the paper, as if to say, "Get your own damned paper!"
That Sunday we came to a mutual understanding about that paper, I didn't ask him to get it, and he didn't ask to read it!
Fritz was the beginning of my love affair with Schnauzers so many years ago.
