mbc1963 Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 I came home from work a bit late today. Buddy ran and got his Squeaker for his daily game of "throw the squeaker." We play every day when I get in the door. However, since it was late, I knew Buddy would have to go. So, I tossed the Squeaker once, then said, "Do you wanna go potty? Wanna go out?!" So, Buddy ran to the door, Squeaker still in his mouth, anxious to get out. But I didn't want Squeaker out in the snow - it's white and hard to find, and it creates stress later if Buddy forgets it out there, when he tries to find it. So, I said, "No Squeaker," and Buddy dropped it on the floor as he knows to do. Then I tried to get him out to potty, saying, "Go Potty," but he wasn't ready to leave Squeaker yet (still excited about the game). He stood, looking hang-dog, over the toy - and frankly at this point I HAD TO PEE TOO - so I said, "OK: Squeaker Potty." Whereupon Buddy picked up Squeaker and went out to do his business. Then I went to bring him back inside, and he had (as predicted) dropped Squeaker in the snow somewhere. So when he came to the door, I said, "NO... Squeaker Come Here Now." And Buddy ran out, got Squeaker, and booked it back to the door to come inside. I seriously, seriously LOVE how I can string sentences together and get the dog to understand what I am telling him. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollieDaze Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Love this story and your rapport with Buddy! That's the epitome of the human/BC relationship to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
border_collie_crazy Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 lol, thats what I love about my BCs too, Happy used to do all kinds of things, I just asked her to do as though I were talking to a child, and she would do it without hesitation, she has a hrader time with it these days though, I dont think she can see very well anymore and it hinders her. Misty picked up the slack though, I consider her my employee at work and I treat her as such lol "hey Misty, go get Kato inside for me" and she's like "ok" and runs out the door ignoring the 30 other dogs and barks at Kato to get his butt inside lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweet_ceana Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 "NO... Squeaker Come Here Now." I string my command words into sentences and leave out all the other words as well! Glad to know I am not the only one. Sometimes I feel like I sound like a caveman, but it gets the job done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedismom Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Typical scenario for us: I let the dogs out. Jedi immediately plops his ball in front of me. I say, "No, go potty first." Off he goes. Comes back and plops ball in front of me again. This time Cadi comes over and decides she wants that particular ball. I say, "Jedi, go get the other ball." Off he goes. Comes back with the other ball. Ball goes over fence. Jedi comes over and looks at me. I say, "Where is it?" He trots over to show me the spot. I say, "Go get it". He trots over to the door of the fence, I let him out, he runs to the other side of the fence and brings back the ball. Brings it to me about 3 ft. away. I say, "Closer, please." Brings it closer. I absolutely love these conversations too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewie'sMom Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Likewise. And some people refer to them as "dumb" animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chantal Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Some people look at me like I'm crazy talking to my dog with such complete sentences versus simple commands. Then they look at me even crazier when they watch my dog understand everything. I love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 I love it when stuff like that happens, too. On Sunday mornings, a lot of horse and buggies go by as the Mennonites go to and from their church services. Speedy adores barking at them from the window, so sometimes I let him do it for a minute or two. Early on, Dean didn't really understand the whole thing. Sammie and Speedy would be standing at the window barking and Dean would scramble around and occasionally bark randomly at this or that. One Sunday, the buggies were going by and I let Sammie and Speedy bark a little. Dean was standing near the front door, which was closed and he proceeded to bark at the door. I laughed and said, "You don't even know what you're barking at, Dean!" He stopped barking, gave me a pointed stare, and then proceeded to walk over to the window, look straight out at the passing buggies, and bark. It was priceless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arf2184 Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Love it! I've been having conversations with Bear (lab mix) for the past decade and mostly he just stares at me and wags his tail. I know he understands quite a bit, but he doesn't like to do things if there's no food involved. With Meg its whole different story. If I don't talk to her and ask her to do things, she'll try to read my mind, bringing me various objects and doing different things, all the while staring at me to see if she's done something right. Meg brings me my shoes everyday. All I have to do is sit down with a pair of socks in hand and she brings me a shoe, usually before I even think to say "Bring me my shoes." I do usually have to remind her to "go get the other one" (because one shoe just isn't enough ). She's always very happy to complete this task (often followed by a walk or car ride) and she's much better at keeping track of my shoes than I am. One day I was distracted talking to my Dad. After a short while, Meg dropped a shoe in my lap. As always, I said "Go get the other one." However, this time she just stared at me with a puzzled look. So I said it again and she began methodically searching the room and after some deliberation she brought me my sister's slipper (the closest thing to a shoe that she found). "No silly girl, that's not what I want. Where's my shoe?" Stare. "Bring me my other shoe." She carefully leaned forward and reached under the chair, grabbed the shoe that had been there all along but I had not seen, and threw it at me. She must have brought it when I wasn't looking which is why she was puzzled when I asked for another one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 I love these stories! Border collies are just so in tune with us. One evening I was sitting on the bed reading. The door was cracked open and Star went to the door to go out. I told her to go ahead and open it several times (she doesn't open doors...yet) figuring she'd nose it open like Seven does. She got all wound up trying to figure that one out, then did her sit and scratch routine (as in, "I could figure this out but I'm not paying attention to you right now."). Finally I called her over to the bed and looked her in the eye and said, "Star, you know how Mama opens the door? YOU do it." She went to the door and grabbed the handle with her mouth! She didn't get it open, (and upon reflection that's a really good thing--needless to say I've not asked her to ever do it again). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 a few commands go home = run home and get help (this was in the pre cell phone days ) find it = track my footsteps and locate objects along the way get it = pick up the object up = hand it to me Situation 1 I was hiking in the mountains of VT. A very thick fog rolled in and the temperature was dropping fast. I realized I was very much lost. I told Duncan "go home find it." He tracked my footsteps back to the cabin. Crisis averted! Situation 2 I locked Duncan in the truck... with my keys. The window was only open about wide enough to squeeze my finger through. Sigh. I told Duncan to "get it." He picked up a pencil. I said "no, not that one, get it." He dropped the pencil and picked up a piece of paper. Again, "no, not that one, get it." It took a few more tries before he grabbed my keys, but as soon as he did I said, "good boy, up!" He pressed the keys against the window, but only about midway up. I repeated, "up" a few more times. A minute later I had my keys and was on my way. Situation 3 (no commands) Dogs are playing fetch. I throw the ball. Frankie likes to get it and bring it back, but sometimes he takes it and lays down, hoarding the toy. I threw it, Frankie got to it first, ran over to a dog bed and curled up, ball resting between his paws. I looked at him and said, "You know what Frankie? I bet you don't really want the ball. You just don't want Juniper to have it." Frankie turned very slowly, looked right at Juniper with the worst stink eye he could muster, then looked down at the ball, curled his paws around it, pulled it closer to his chest and looked up at me with a smug look on his face as if to say, "Exactly!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.