A Dog Owner Witnessed His Dog Lie to Another Dog in the Park

My dog doesn't understand object permanence and gets scared of the vacuum. But some dogs, especially the one in this Reddit post, are actually smart. This dog owner recounted an instance (pre-COVID) where they watched their dog lie to the other dogs at the dog park. 

The story really is remarkable. OP writes that, before the pandemic, they were at the dog park and all the dogs were vying for this "pretty popular ball" that all the dogs loved to play with. We all know how that goes. 

Their dog had control of the popular ball for a while, but then he lost it to another dog. "We'll call this other dog Richard," OP writes, hilariously. "My dog stops. I can see his ears perked forward, brow wrinkled; it's his thinking position."

The dog then proceeds to do "a quick visual sweep" and grabs the stick nearest to him. "While keeping an eye on, and staying close to Richard, who now has the popular ball, my guy starts tossing the stick, bounding, and playing super dramatically with this stick; it's not how he plays with toys at all," OP writes.

"After 20 seconds of this act, Richard with the popular ball takes notice of this apparently fantastic new toy, drops the ball AND MY GUY BOLTS AND SNAGS THE POPULAR BALL with zero hesitation, leaving this formerly lucky dog with nothing but a lame stick that none of them actually wanted." they continue.

"Did my dog just f--kin' lie to Richard," OP asks incredulously. And you know what? I think he did. I think he knew exactly what he was doing. 

"It isn't a lie," one commenter wrote. "It is marketing." That's very true. OP's dog simply marketed that stick really well to divert the other dogs' attention from the ball he wanted to play with. That's just smart business.

"Cackling so hard," another person wrote. "Your dog clearly needs a job in sales." I don't know about you, but I would watch that movie. Air Bud retires from basketball and joins an ad agency to bring his ideas to the masses. It would make millions at the box office. 

According to one commenter, their two dogs have both figured out the same trick and use it to trick each other all the time: "If the other has a toy or stick they want, they'll look out the window and excitedly bark. When the other drops what they're doing to join the barking, then the big fat liar dog immediately goes in for the toy. It's so funny to watch those gears turning."

The best part about that is that they both use the same trick but they never know if the other one is lying about having something to bark at, so they always have to go check. You know, just in case there's really a squirrel or a mailman out there.

I think what this story proves is that dogs are the best, whether they're smart or not. Some dogs have the intelligence to play up a stick at a park and then go steal their favorite ball back, and other dogs will fall for the stick every time.

I love all of those dogs —  the, um, less intelligent ones as well as the smarter ones. They're all cuddly, and in the end, that's what matters.