LinnaeaBorealis
Posts: 8595
Joined: 10/5/2008 From: Insanity & beyond Status: offline
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I had a cat who would ponder a problem & then figure out the solution. I'd watch her actually thinking about it. Most of my dogs have not been brilliant, but they have certainly been lovable. They have enriched my life like few humans have ever done. I had a poodle who was untrained when I got her. It occurred to me that she would understand commands that I taught her whether the English word I used for this command fit the command or not. So when I told her to "Sit", she would get on her hind legs & dance. She was a wonderful wonderful friend to me. When I got Spike, he had been feral. He had no clue what it was to be a pet, nor what play was. He knew no commands at all. All he knew how to do was to survive. So I started completely from scratch. Mind you, I'd never really been able to train a dog & believed that I wasn't any good at it. But I was out of work due to a broken hand, so I had all the time in the world to devote to him. The first few weeks, we were attached by a leash; wherever I went, he had to go; whatever he got, he had to get from me; he couldn't escape & go hide from me. At night, I would crate him, then when we got up in the morning, back on the leash til bedtime. He began to be less fearful & he started to understand what was expected of him. He became completely devoted to me. I added the rest of his name, "The Amazing Wonder Dog" one day when he suddenly began to "get it". He learned command after command, a new one every 20 minutes or so. I kept calling my friend, all excited, saying, "You won't believe what he just did!!" And he did it not for treats but because it pleased me. Pretty soon, I started adding more commands. When I would give him a new command, he'd look at me as if to say, "I don't know what it is that you want me to do, but I really really really want to do that for you & I will as soon as I figure it out!" So we taught each other. One of the big lessons he taught me was to not raise my voice with him. It didn't make him want to do something more, in fact it would sort of make him deaf to what it was I wanted from him. But if I lowered my voice to just above a whisper, he'd do it in an instant. He became my anxiety dog, which is pretty amazing considering when I got him he was riddled with anxieties & at first, I had to calm him when he'd panic. After awhile though, when I'd have an anxiety attack, he'd come to me & let me rub his ear until I calmed. He went to the dentist with me to help with my extreme severe dental phobia. He truly was The Amazing Wonder Dog!! But he didn't get any of the major philosophers in the least.
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Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in ~~L. Cohen Just one of the yahoo's
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