Aquinnah still has some learning to do

The Quinn Man

The canine mind can be a strange and incomprehensible thing.

A few weeks ago, we added a new cat, Leo, to our menagerie of two dogs and three cats. As we always do when we first take in a cat, we isolated Leo in two upstairs rooms for a few days. This was done partly to help him get acclimated, but also because he was being treated for ear mites, which can spread to other cats.

Over time, Leo won the right to roam the house at will. He continued to spend his time upstairs during his first few days of freedom, often at the top of the stairs. Our dogs - Aquinnah and Martha - spend their days downstairs, usually in the living room.

Martha took Leo's arrival in stride, but Aquinnah (aka Quinn) quickly became obsessed. Quinn took to standing at the baby gate in the living room doorway and peering up the stairs, hoping to spot Leo.

Eventually, Leo made his way downstairs. As he became more comfortable, he spent more time on the first floor, where he made friends with the dogs and our other cats. But Quinn remained obsessed. And, it turns out, confused.

One day, after giving Leo a good sniff in the first-floor dining room, Quinn ran back to the doorway leading to the stairs, and stared up at the second floor landing, looking for Leo. He did this even though Leo was only a few feet away from him in the dining-room window - a fact that Quinn had established for himself only moments earlier.

Dogs have many virtues, and intelligence certainly is one of them, but pooch smarts do have their limits. Mensa will not come knocking at Quinn's door anytime soon.