Since I've read the post about the cockatoo, I felt prompted to write about other smart pets.
Some just excell intelligence-wise, you'll mostly see that in their problem solving skill, while they are probably naughty and using that for all kinds of mischief. You need to challenge those, by giving them fun toys and exercising them, but you also need to encourage them to learn and exercise mentally.
This goes especially for cats, but also for dogs. Towards my cat, I act very predictable and mirror her doing, showing her the same when interacting with fellow humans. She has actually learned to be polite. Like politely ask for food, politely ask to be let out, get talked to politely. Since that, she seems to really enjoy being taken seriously and she has been very active, happy and non destructive. Before she has been opening cabinets, digging out plants, she has even managed to open the Ziploc bag with food in it over night and I still don't get how.
Treating her as a family member and giving her the opportunity to understand and predict how we act and therefore, power in our relationship, seems to challenge her mentally in a good way and she has been very well behaved (despite going to the doctor's and meeting dogs, whom she hates and attacks). She does not yell or destroy stuff and has even successfully asked for a new scratching post.
My other cat could and would never do that, she's a fairly normal cat who is happy when she has a box, some boiled chicken and knows three words: her name, food and the mail man and the sound of a box opened...
Smart, mischievous pets can be really reasonable, when you treat them at the mental level they actually are and they can adapt well, if you make it possible for them. You're the center of their life and they want to understand you and communicate just as much as you want!
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/id6ri6/if_your_pet_is_exceptionally_smart_dont_only/
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