Maybe not as dumb as we think...

When we adopted the dogs I had to upgrade all our trash cans to these ones with tops on them because you-know-who would get into them and eat all the garbage within. As long as they have their tops on, we've been good to go in that department. Unfortunately for those of us in the house who do the picking up (me) it is cold season and there is nothing Mango loves more than to snack on dirty Kleenex's. I'm serious, if there was a juicy bone laying on the floor alongside of the snot-filled Kleenex, Mango will go for the snot rag (I've never actually tested this).

Anyway, I guess the fact that the garbage is filled with all kinds of 'wintry goodies' has made Mango extra motivated to get into the cans. I don't know how she does it, but at least once a day, per garbage can, I walk into the room and the contents are spewed all over the floor. The top to trash can 'exhibit A' will be laying by the side of the can. The one labeled 'exhibit B' of course closes by itself. I have never caught Mango breaking in like this but I'm guessing she probably pokes her head in through the hole, gets it stuck, pulls away from the can and the top goes with her head. She most likely then shakes off the lid and she's all set to go to town on the contents.

With the one whose lid lifts, I'm pretty sure that she uses her damn food to just open the thing like it was intended for a human to do. I'm almost positive about this because while I've never seen her do it, if I am near enough I can hear the lid lifting and I rush into the bathroom to catch the culprit red-pawed and slowly backing away from the garbage.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B