Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

We had a poodle as well and the dog was quite smart. My mother trained him to say Mama and a couple of other things I dont remember. He was also gay, NTTAWWT.

The intelligence thing is interesting bc the ranking is for only one kind of intelligence and the other two are totally subjective. Was your poodle easily trained and otherwise an idiot?

Movie Remakes, Part II
 

Entertainment Weekly has a new article on some additional planned remakes:

"Weekend Update: Hollywood should remake THESE movies. Forget ''Harvey,'' ''Topper,'' and ''The Pink Panther.'' Gillian Flynn offers five better alternatives for 21st-century modernizing:

I couldn't be happier that ''Drumline'''s Nick Cannon is doing a remake of that '80s Patrick Dempsey nerd-with-a-riding-mower treasure ''Can't Buy Me Love.'' (Perhaps Frankie Muniz can do a cameo as the guy who weeps, ''You s--t on my house!'') And frankly, I'm intrigued by Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez dipping into the remake of the sweet 1996 Japanese film ''Shall We Dance?'' But I must say to you, Mr. Travolta: Stepping into Jimmy Stewart's long, lean shadow in a redux of ''Harvey''? Imaginary bunnies aren't the only flight of fancy here.

''Harvey'' is just one of many silly moves Hollywood is planning in its remake frenzy. Steve Martin in ''Topper''? ''10 Again''? ''The Party'' and ''The Pink Panther'' without Peter Sellers? I now pause to shudder, and issue a warning: He who touches ''The Thin Man'' will feel my wrath."

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

How trainable is your basset? That ranking goes to obedience . The one I see on a regular basis is definitely dumb in the untrainable sense. I also have to agree that beagles are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down there. Try to get one to stop barking. As for the kind of intelligence we are used to, problem solving, I wonder if Leagl's corgis are more closely matched. My family has a dog who is an absolute genius to the point where he seems lije a small child. He conveys his thoughts with facial expressions, his head and paws and with different sounds. He was sort of in the middle on obedience, which is probalby right. But I think thats cuz he does what he wants to do and knows not to buy into the human boss bs. Maybe the obedience intelligence is inverse to problem solving intelligence.

Movie Remakes, Part II
 

This is such a lovely movie, but I cannot imagine how it can be remade. The conflict in the film comes from Japanese culture.

Any attempt to make an American version will suck.

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

That would explain labs' abilities as guide dogs, as they tend to be quite trainable. I personally prefer a dog, like our family dog, who will clearly think things out: "You want me to come, but I would prefer to keep chewing my Nylabone. I will come when I am finished. Then, I will body block your exit from the kitchen until you agree to get me some cheese."

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

Fuck... I forgot about border collies. Those dogs are cool as shit. I didn't know that's what you called those things. Fuck the Golden - I think I'll get a border collie.

That list vindicates my position that Rottweillers are very smart. So many folks have disagreed with me when I said they make great pets. people seem to think they're dumb landsharks, but in actuality, they can be really great pets. I had a buddy who had one that would play with little kids like a Golden. Unfortunately, I think Rotts are overbred - his died young of apparant natural cuases.

One bonus you do get with cats is that they live a long fucking time. My mom finally had to put one down last year and it was 17 - and it had feline leukemia. I've heard some do 20 years.

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

Bassetts are very trainable, though they are by nature bird dogs that do things like fetch something (dead bird or slippers) or tree something; their very soft mouths were bred to fetch birds without damaging them, but this means they also are very safe for children and useful for around the house projects (e.g., go fetch me a beer).

Our bassetts were also steady, even tempered, and anxious to please. The one you're around may simply have never gotten any training, in which case a bassett can be on the blobbish side.

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

Whipped? Dude, if you get a chick who likes to party and will let you get as twisted as you want whenevr you like and still fuck you, the least you can do is clean the fuckin litterbox. I used to thank god for an attractive chick - after seeing the horrorshow wenches some of my friends married, I realize just how lucky it is to find a person who's laid back and isn't a fucking psycho. I'll deal with the litter.

One thing I'll still never understand is some of my friends who have ugly wives, yet the wife runs their lives. WTF? I always feel like saying "Hey, Commandant, have you checked the mirror lately? You're lucky you have him or anyone else offering you any physical contact other than a slap across the face or a boot in the ass. Consider yourself damn lucky and let him have another beer with his friends." And I'm sure this phenomenon works the same from the female perspective...

S(Its kinda like short guys who try to run things - shut up, midget)D

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

The degree to which the longevity is a "bonus" depends to a large part upon the individual cat.

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

Let me start off by saying that I am a big dog person. Have one myself (a lovely, intelligent, ball-retrieving, pond-swimming, cuddle on the couch whenever possible mutt).

And yes, certain breeds tend to be smarter than others, but when you get down to it a dog is only as good/smart/intelligent as it's human guardian let's it. Dogs require time and training to encourage their intelligence and discourage their bad habits.

Just like kids, dogs like rules and boundaries, they respond much better to structureed environment.

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

Couldn't agree more. Training is crucial. If a dog is vicious it is normally so because it is trained to be or was so badly treated it has become so. Rotties are a good example. They can be the sweetest dogs, but sometimes they are trained to fight and bite or are just treated so badly they become horrific. You can also breed them to encourage aggressive behavior, so a good owner knows that and knows how to discourage it.

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

I'm assuming your friends are all bronzed gods compared to their wives, not the former-high-school-athletes-letting-themselves-go-to-pot-now-that-they-don't-have-to-catch-a-chick types I see around so often. IMHO, women tend to take better care of themselves--there's just more pressure.

Anyone else see that study on face and body image a couple years back where guys repeatedly overestimated their attractiveness to the opposite sex, and women repeatedly underestimated it?

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

I grew up with Standard Poodles, very smart dogs. Too smart. They were also excellent guard dogs. Nobody was allowed to set a foot on the property without their 'permission.'

The breed evolved in Germany as hunting dogs. The curly coat and funny cut was to keep their joints warm when in water. I've heard that some musher actually ran the Iditarod with a team of Standards (hopefully without the funny hair do), but I've never been able to confirm it. I guess my web search skills are lacking.

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

My parents' cat, who used to be my cat, will turn 20 in July. We've had one or two scares, and my parents fired our vet of some 25 years because he wanted to put her down a couple of years ago when she had a minor infection (that cleared up with antibiotics). Right now, though, she's pretty healthy.

Bright Young Things, or Life on the FB
 

My dog is a rottweiler, and she couldn't be sweeter. We used to have two dogs, the other one was a labrador, but the lab (that's right, the lab...) bit my 2-year-old son on the face, so she was sent to live with my sister (not a euphemism -- she was actually sent to live with my sister.)

The rottweiler is very submissive around small dogs (as if she doesn't want to frighten them). She crawls up to them on her stomach, chin to the sidewalk, all the while making whimpering sounds. However, when she sees a big dog, she can be quite terrifying. (Loud bark accompanied with frenzied lunging.)

She also thinks she's a lap dog. And as I mentioned, her arch enemy is a chipmunk who lives in our yard. She sits at the window mesmerized until the poor thing emerges from its home, and then she cannot wait to get out the door and chase it.

Mostly, however, she just lies around.