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Don't Forget to Train your Human!


Cass C
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It turns out it's true border collies can train humans to do their bidding. I had a friend from out of town staying with us and Lily managed to teach my friend to squeak a toy for her. Lily would hand the friend a squeaky toy and as long as the friend was squeaking it Lily was happy bouncing around the room with another non squeaking toy in her mouth, but whenever my friend would stop Lily would take the squeaky toy away from my friend squeak it once then shove it back in my friends hand. If my friend still wouldn't squeak the toy Lily would continue to squeak the toy once and hand it to my friend until my friend either started squeaking it or put the squeaky toy away. It was quite funny to watch Lily try to train a human. My friend found this endlessly entertaining and Lily seemed to think she was being pretty clever.

 

Do any of you have stories of your dogs trying to train people?

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:lol: :lol: :lol: Great story!

 

Mine is not strictly training:

I went outside and in the yard was Kelly - my husband's dog. I asked her where he was, and she trotted a few paces towards the path leading behind the barn, came back, and picked up a large branch and holding it in her month nodded her head. I - thinking she was asking to play (although she did not display any play behavior) - said 'no' and repeated the question. She repeated her action, nodding her head more emphatically while holding the stick. I said, "Oh, he is stacking up the fire wood!" I went behind the barn and sure enough, that was it.

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That is a very good story. I my work I have had a dog at a distance turn and give me a look when I have asked for something the dog thinks might be a mistake in the work. I learned years ago if Sweep did this better think about it a mo!

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Samantha used to ride in the front seat w/me, while Shonie and Buzz rode in the back. On the way home from the park one morning, I was stroking her head as I drove. Then I decided I'd had enough, gave her one more pat and said, "No more, Sammie, as the human, I decide when to pet and when not to."

 

I put my hand in my lap. In a moment, there's a dog nose nudging my hand, then sliding under it, then lifting it. Then there were 2 golden eyes staring at me from under the hand. Hard. Close. Intent.

 

I got the message. She never had to remind me again.

 

Ruth and Gibbs

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I am Runa, the Border collie that owns Jude. I have hijacked Jude's account.

 

Her training began immediately after I arrived at her home. Her previous owner, a flattie mix named Zuri, evidently spent some time working with her, so she came partially trained. It has been a year and she is still a work in progress, but I have had some successes.

 

If I ring the bell, she is trained to open the door.

If I need more room on the bed, I push on her back with extended legs and she moves.

I have trained her to be a morning person, (this one was hard), but with persistence and a cold nose, we now have a reliable wakeup.

I am proud to say, she is almost 100% trained at "on demand belly rubs". I just flip over and give her "mush eyes".

She has been trained to scratch my head if I lay it on her lap.

I have also trained her to put all her shoes away, it only took one shoe, so she got it with no repetitions. Smart girl!

She has also been trained to throw a ball or my Chuckit Squirrel multiple times. If she seems to be getting bored, I mix it up by stepping in the only poop in the yard that she missed picking up.

 

It is important to find out what motivates your humans and always use positive reinforcement.

For mine, after a good play session or a long walk, I reward her with a few hours of peace to play on her computer or pursue other non-dog interests.

 

Oooops! I think Jude is back...................................

 

RUNA! What are you doing? Dang! I think I need to change my password again.

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I can't think of any specific examples, but when someone says to me, "that dog is training you", I experience a wave of appreciation for my dog. :) I love that they have input into our lives. We train each other. It is how it should be.

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Urge to Herd- my little dog travels in the back seat, as she has done for years and years. But she has been doing this since before I was anything but vaguely aware of the existence of dog crates and she did not always have her dog seatbelt on her. I have since become much more cautious about these things, though I still cannot find a tested seatbelt that is within my budget.

 

 

One day I decided I would bring my friend's dog for a walk with us, since my friend was sick and couldn't walk it. All well and good. Put both into the back of the car and set off. At some point my friend's dog started growling.

 

So my dog tentatively put her head in between the seats to get into the front, something she knows she is not allowed to do. "No! Bad dog! Very bad dog!" So she sheepishly, with much bowing and kowtowing and the apologetic tail wag, climbs into the front seat and settles down to sleep. I should have left it there. Instead I scold and berate and the dog in the back keeps growling.

 

My dog decided that the best thing to do in this scenario would be to fix the problem of me being angry. So to fix that problem she could not go into the back seat, because angry dog. But she could climb onto my lap and lick my face.

 

I pulled over immediately and put the growling dog into the trunk.

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