As an adult, the only dog I ever loved as part of my own family was an Australian shepherd named Tober who died a few years ago at nearly 19 years old. He was the most intelligent, protective and compassionate creature I've ever encountered.
He knew the words for each of his specific toys. Without any change in your tone, you could ask him to bring you his squeaky, or his frisbee, or whatever and by golly he knew. He knew his property boundaries without fences. I had to train him for this one, but he was an enthusiatist student.
He loved to retrieve and loved the water. We lived on a river when he was younger. He would watch where you threw something in the river for him to retrieve and he judged the current and knew to run along the bank and jump in ahead of the river current to retrieve in the moving water. Amazing. Simple amazing dog.
I had a cat that used the toilet instead of the litter box.
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