I forgot to post anything for Tricky T-day this week. We (Katie and I) are still working on weaving through my legs. She still doesn’t understand what the point is, though she has taken to rolling over whenever I ask her to do anything, just in case.
This morning I recognized a behavior she has learned on her own that has a bit of trickery to it and I thought all you dog owners (or do they own us?) out there would enjoy the story. Katie says it’s OK to tell, even though I am sort of ratting her out.
In the house we have a few windows and doors that allow her to see the back yard, and the road the runs the length of our property. She always lets us know if something is in the backyard (like a rabbit, or a chipmunk or a DEER!!!!) and whenever something or someone is walking on her road. Being a Sheltie she can hardly help herself. We used to get up and go see what the problem was, then assure her she did her job and she could stop barking now. Sometimes we picked her up and carried her away from the offending view.
Lately we’ve been too lazy to get up. If we’re on the sofa, watching television or working on our laptop, we’ll call out to her, ask her to “COME!” and if she stops barking and runs over to us, she got a “GOOD GIRL!” and a bit of dog kibble as a treat. We kept a bag of treats on the coffee table. Well. Don’t ever say that dogs don’t reason stuff out.
I’ve noticed the past few mornings that as I am on the sofa watching the news, or checking emails on the computer she will be off in the breakfast room, or at the door to the deck. Then she’ll let out a couple of yips or a long low growl and than RACE back around the sofa to me and look at me expectantly. Hmmm…I’ve gotten up a few times and checked outside. Nothing. I think she’s barking at nothing at all, then running over to get her “GOOD GIRL!” and especially her treat!
Little stinker! Has she got us trained or what?
Change Is Hard 
August 13, 2009 at 9:29 am
That is priceless. What a smart girl Katie is! I definitely think that they figure stuff like that out and work it to their advantage. LOL
LikeLike
August 13, 2009 at 5:34 pm
That our shelties for you…..they can learn amazing things on their own but if they can’t see reason as to why do something we want them too – FORGET IT!!!!
LikeLike
August 13, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Katie is such a smart girl! Barking is so rewarding 🙂
I saw that shelties are number 6 on the top ten smartest dogs. I really think they should be number 2, under border collies. Someone must have gotten paid off.
Love the long tongue photo!
LikeLike
August 14, 2009 at 6:22 am
That’s hilarious! Katie is one smart girl! I’m going to have to start trying that out for myself and see if I can get a few more treats! Because we all know I need more treats!
LikeLike
August 15, 2009 at 5:01 am
Oh yeah, you’ve sure been trained all right. What a clever girl!
LikeLike
August 15, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Essex did something similar. She picked up that on a phrase Dad used when a bicycle, jogger, golf cart was passing by and she didn’t see it yet. The phrase “Somebody is sleeping on the job” will now send both collies into a dither or barking or chasing. She probably picked up on it the fourth time I said it.
Simply amazing.
Dog Dad Joe
LikeLike
August 27, 2009 at 11:29 am
Many people underestimate dogs’ abilities to pick up stuff like that. I find that I have always (even before having a clue) used the same vocabulary to talk to my dogs over and over, treating them like a small child. So, for example, Remington would perk up whenever I said “squirrel!” My first dog understood “time to get off the bed,” even if it was a sleeping bag on the floor. Tika and Boost have BOTH trained me so that, if they’re on the bed and drop the toy on the bed, I ignore it (because it’s in their reach), but I’ll pick it up and toss it back onto the bed if it “accidentally” gets onto the floor. For some reason, now, it always lands on the floor. It took me a while to figure out that they had trained me!
Jake used to lift his paw every time the treats came out, just like Katie rolls over. It’s the first trick I taught him. It’s what’s called “superstitious behavior”–“the last few times I did this, I got treats, might as well try again.” Like wearing the same shoes again because the last few times you wore them, you earned a Q. 🙂
LikeLike