But that doesn't mean he's not smart. In fact, just the opposite. Two of my best friends in high school each had dogs. One was a hyper Jack Russell terrier that did tricks, played fetch and was remarkably athletic. The other was a lazy and cuddly dachshund that was content having its belly rubbed for 20 hours of the day. My friends would occasionally debate about whose dog was smarter. I ultimately sided with the owner of the dachshund because that dog had figured out that, tricks or no tricks, it was still going to get fed. So why jump through the hoops?

Such is the case with Einstein. Instead, he uses all of his intelligence to think of ways to eat things and do things he's not supposed to. He spends hours each day on our love seat just staring out the window and I am convinced that he is simply plotting and scheming of ways to get more food.

Einstein did not adjust particularly well to the baby. He is an extremely entitled dog and, as we pretty much expected, was incredibly jealous of Elliott. We take Elliott everywhere and with each trip that Elliott went on where he was forced to stay home, the hatred boiled hotter. But, with time, that hatred has moved closer to indifference. We always figured that, once Elliott got old enough to start dropping food all over the floor, Einstein would then love him. But Einstein's acceptance came a bit earlier than that because Einstein has realized that he can use Elliott as a tool to get treats.

Einstein is brilliant when treats are involved. When we ask him to sit, he instantly just cycles through the two or three tricks he knows until he lands on the one that gets him food. "OK, I'll shake. No? I'll lay down? Still no. Shake again? Hmm. Sit? Yeah? That's it? Here's another shake too for good measure. What'll that get me?" We are both enablers with Einstein, particularly Shelbi. He is a small dog and always underfoot. Which means he is constantly getting a paw or a tail stepped on. This is always accompanied by a shriek and while I usually just get angry because 95% of the time it's his own fault, Shelbi feels mortified and generally pacifies himself with a Beggin Strip, a small strip of an unknown substance that looks, smells and presumably tastes like bacon. (I have long said that if I didn't have anything to eat for lunch and was unable to leave the house, I don't think I'm beneath eating a Beggin Strip or two. They look delicious.)

Anyway, soon after this became routine, we started noticing that anytime we put a foot down in the near vicinity of Einstein he would let out a shriek like he'd been shot with a BB gun and then scurry over to his treat drawer and just stare at us, waiting for us to plead for his forgiveness with an offering.

Fast forward to a week ago. Elliott loves watching Einstein. He has even gotten to where he recognizes his footsteps and starts looking around the room when he hears them. And, with crawling becoming imminent, we have wanted Einstein to get used to being close to Elliott and used to his sounds and being pet by him. So far Einstein has been terrific. Elliott will grab his fur a bit without incident and while Einstein certainly isn't thrilled, he is tolerant. So this behavior has often been rewarded with a treat.

The other day, Elliott was on a mat on the floor. Shelbi was watching from the kitchen and Einstein walked up to the mat and sat down right beside Elliott. Elliott watched intently as Einstein simply stared Shelbi down. A minute later Elliott let out a happy shriek. Einstein immediately got up and trotted to his treat drawer, gruffing at it to be rewarded for his patience and good-natured personality. Unbelievable.