Clever dog sees students buying cookies – then starts collecting leaves to “buy” his own
Negro is not the kind of dog who waits around for humans to bring him a treat. When this dog wants a snack, he gets it himself, even if that means he has to buy his own!
Sweet Negro (whose name simply means “black” in Spanish) grew up on the campus of the Diversified Technical Education Institute of Monterrey Casanare in Colombia, South America.
He’s technically a guard dog, watching over the students on campus, but the friendly pup has become something of a school mascot as well. And since he’s such a sweet and adorable boy, nearly all of the students and staff are friends with him and are happy to bring him treats.
But as we all know, a dog can never have enough treats. And Negro didn’t want to be on anyone else’s schedule.
So one day, he got a pretty clever idea.
After seeing students come out of the campus shop with cookies, he watched closely and saw them pay with cash. Negro decided he too could trade something green for cookies!
“He would go to the store and watch the children give money and receive something in exchange,” Angela Garcia Bernal, a teacher at the school, told The Dodo. “Then one day, spontaneous, he appeared with a leaf in his mouth, wagging his tail and letting it be known that he wanted a cookie.”
If you ever tried to pay the ice cream man with leaves as a little kid, you know exactly how this logic works.
The staff at the store found it hilarious when Negro went and found a big, green leaf and waltzed into the store with it in his mouth. And they couldn’t believe it when he gently gave it to the cashier, expecting to purchase some cookies.
When the cashier took the leaf, he stared and waited patiently for the transaction to be completed.
How could you deny such a creative dog?
Well, they didn’t. Negro got his cookies – and a tradition began.
Gladys Barreto told The Dodo that now Negro thinks his money is good whenever he wants!
“He comes for cookies every day. He always pays with a leaf. It is his daily purchase.”
As far as Negro is concerned, money really does grow on trees!
Negro “purchased” cookies with leaves for years and the first photos of him doing it surfaced when Angela Bernal, one of the teachers at Diversified Technical Education Institute, shared a Facebook post about Negro in April 2018 and it quickly went viral.
“When you first see it, you almost want to cry,” Bernal said. “He’s found a way to make himself understood. He’s very intelligent.”
As you might expect, people from all over the world begged to adopt the pup, but the school wasn’t about to give up their guard (and cookie monster).
Of course, there are two problems with Negro’s leafy purchases – 1) the store can’t afford to give away too many free cookies (especially since there is an endless supply of leaves), and 2) like so many of us, Negro doesn’t really stop eating cookies when he should.
Luckily, Negro accepted some ground rules – he would be limited to just a few snacks a day.
And these aren’t just any cookies. The staff has been thoughtful enough to limit Negro to cookies that are safe for him to eat.
We’re impressed that Negro managed to invent his own cookie currency!
Be sure to scroll down to see Negro carrying around his cash en route to get some snacks.
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Source: The Dodo, A Peña J David via Facebook, Instituto Educativo Técnico Diversificado de Monterrey