Well, consciously anyway. The poodley thing has started jumping up into my arms so he can lick my face. I'm not keen, tbh, but if I don't catch him he might fall to his splatty death. I did not train him to do this. He also walks around on his back legs doing a strange sort of salsa move to get attention when we're eating dinner. He has never been fed from the table, but we do appreciate the entertainment. The spaniel taught himself to search for things with no real input from me. He will work an area methodically, tail a blur, until he finds whatever I might have dropped. He's great at finding keys.
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The doghouse
Things your dog does that you didn't train them to do
27 replies
SnakeyMcBadass · 06/03/2014 10:37
OP posts:
moosemama ·
06/03/2014 16:32
There's some interesting stuff in the book The Genius of Dogs about how experiments that ascertained that dogs are able to follow the direction a humans points, proved that they are capable of more complex, independent thought than was previously believed.
Primates cannot follow human pointing unless domesticated/raised by humans, same with foxes and wolves cannot do it at all, but puppies of domesticated dogs can do it by 9 weeks old.
Nostress, my pup and I have very similar conversations and he's able to indicate whether he wants to go out, is hungry, wants water. I know when he wants something because he comes and sits directly in front of me and stares right at my face. Then I ask "What do you want?" and he stands up, then I go through the list "Are you hungry?/Do you want to go out? Do you want water?" etc and as soon as I say the right one he cocks his head on one side and heads to the appropriate location to wait for me.
As for things he's taught himself, most of them are just him responding to cues in his environment that he has noticed are consistent when something is about to happen eg, when I close the laptop I am usually about to remove my backside from the sofa, so he gets up and comes to see what I'm up to.
He has however taught himself to walk backwards a few paces so I can open the back door without bumping him and I have now put that on cue and find it useful in a surprising number of situations.
He had taught himself to use the kitchen bin as his personal food dispenser, but we've foiled that one now by buying a new metal pedal bin, as he really hates the clanging noise it makes.
While I was ill he did train my Mum to repeatedly get up and and close the back door, by coming and opening it then running off up the garden. You could see how funny he found his new game and knew to only try it with her, as no-one else would stand for it.
Lurcherboy, my older lad, is one of those dogs that knows when my husband has just left his office and is on his way home. I've checked several times and he's always right, despite dh having had three different jobs and using three different modes of transport including car, train and bicycle. He even knows when dh leaves head office in London, even though he won't be home for another couple of hours. Of course he's not that bright, because as soon as dh leaves Lurcherboy goes and sits by the living room door to wait for him, which is a bit daft if he's not going to be home for two hours. 
He always does the same thing - gets out of his bed, yawns, comes and puts his paw on my lap, wags his tail then goes to lie by the living room door. 
LtEveDallas ·
06/03/2014 16:41
MuttDog worked out that if she stands by my side of the bed, whines and wags her tail against the bedside table in the early hours it wakes me up and I get out of bed assuming that she needs a wee. She waits until I leave the bedroom so she can then jump up onto the nice warm spot I have left behind and continue snoozing (once I am awake and up I cannot go back to bed)
She can hear the opening of the fridge from 100 yds down the garden and can tell the difference between ham and cheese.
She knows that DH picking up his lighter means that he is going outside, and she generally beats him to the door.
She knows that we walk as a pack at 1230 every day, and won't settle from 1200 onwards. She starts whining about 10 minutes before our friend appears in the office, which means she knows he has left his office a good 500 yds across the carpark.
She is currently pawing at my feet, because she knows I am usually packing up by now. Sorry Mutt, it's a later one tonight
musicposy ·
07/03/2014 07:43
To open doors. At first it was just jumping at the handles and pushing, but then she taught herself to open doors that go inwards.
We first discovered this when she opened a kitchen cupboard and ate her way through a good few cereal boxes, box and cereal.
Then she taught herself to get out of the crate. This is a two step process - she pushes against the hinge and lifts the door with her nose. I have no idea how she worked that out.
It's a pain in the neck as we can never shut her in anywhere. I really ought to get doorknobs instead of handles.
She's Houdini in dog form
needastrongone ·
07/03/2014 09:01
To jump ON the tunnel, rather than go through the tunnel at our first agility class last night
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