William Schryver Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 This is making the rounds: Very, very impressive! Link to comment
ERayR Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 This is making the rounds: Very, very impressive!It took a lot of time to be able to get him to do that. My Grandfather used to be really good with dogs. Link to comment
William Schryver Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 It took a lot of time to be able to get him to do that. My Grandfather used to be really good with dogs.No doubt some hours of training went into it, but a lot of it is the natural intelligence of that breed of dog. Although I live in a nice neighborhood in northwest Cedar City, we are surrounded by old-time cattle and sheep operations, and the stockmen still routinely move their stock from one pasture to another via the main roads, so I have opportunity to observe the workings of the cattle/sheep dogs that they use. Plus, I have helped (on horseback) round up sheep and cattle off the mountain in the autumn, and saw the dogs working the stock then. Those cattle/sheep dogs are amazing! And what they do is mostly instinctive; bred into them via generations of breeding. The older ones teach the younger ones what to do as much as or more than they are taught by their human handlers. I wouldn't want one as a pet (they're too hyper), but as a working dog, they are something else. They have a sense of what the stockmen want the cattle or sheep to do, and they just go out and herd them accordingly, without a whole lot in the way of instructions from the stockmen.Anyway, it is an impressive video. I especially like how the dog waited for the word "three". Link to comment
ERayR Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 No doubt some hours of training went into it, but a lot of it is the natural intelligence of that breed of dog. Although I live in a nice neighborhood in northwest Cedar City, we are surrounded by old-time cattle and sheep operations, and the stockmen still routinely move their stock from one pasture to another via the main roads, so I have opportunity to observe the workings of the cattle/sheep dogs that they use. Plus, I have helped (on horseback) round up sheep and cattle off the mountain in the autumn, and saw the dogs working the stock then. Those cattle/sheep dogs are amazing! And what they do is mostly instinctive; bred into them via generations of breeding. The older ones teach the younger ones what to do as much as or more than they are taught by their human handlers. I wouldn't want one as a pet (they're too hyper), but as a working dog, they are something else. They have a sense of what the stockmen want the cattle or sheep to do, and they just go out and herd them accordingly, without a whole lot in the way of instructions from the stockmen.Anyway, it is an impressive video. I especially like how the dog waited for the word "three".As I said my grandfather could do marvelous things with dogs. It is one thing for them to work cattle with their natural instincts and to be in complete control of that dog the way he was. Link to comment
KevinG Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 My dog (see picture) is smart enough to wait until we're asleep, creep into the pantry, and steal the whole dang bag of marshmallows. Link to comment
Kenngo1969 Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 We had a toy poodle for 13-14 years. Her name was Pip because she was so huge. In one afternoon, my dad taught her to play dead: he would shoot her with his finger by going, "Bang! Dead dog!" And she'd roll over on her side, dead. Then he would take a doggie treat, or a piece of bread, or whatever he was using to bribe her, and put it right on the corner of her mouth and say, "Dead dogs don't eat." And she wouldn't move. Again, he'd say, "Dead dogs don't eat." And she wouldn't move. And however many times as he said, "Dead dogs don't eat," she wouldn't move. But when he said, "But Pip can have it!" it was gone! Good memories! (I happen to think that Don Bluth is right: all dogs do go to heaven! ) Link to comment
Garden Girl Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 All right... my folks had a really smart Border Collie the vet described as a "herder"... but...He wasn't any smarter than my Bobby-cat... perhaps it's because it's just the two of us that we are so in tune, but he really can communicate. If Bob could talk, he would. He gives me wonderful laughs as he opens the cupboard doors, the closet doors. I can always tell where he's been as I'm having to close them as I walk through the house. He stands on his hind legs and puts his front paws on the top of the cupboard door, then walks backwards pulling the door open. He loves to go in and look around. The doors sometimes close but he knows how to push against them to get out. He likes to open my sliding closet door and go in and sleep behind the clothes.But most of all, it's the way he looks right into my eyes and goes "Meeeooowwww" as he jumps up against me or puts his paws around my arm when he wants something. Like a little kid saying "Pleeeease" He has a hundred little "ways" about him that are so funny/cute, and a mind of his own!If I ever do get a dog I wouldn't mind one like my folks'. It wasn't that hyper. He adored my dad.GG Link to comment
KevinG Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Garden Girl,Dogs have owners. Cats have staff. Link to comment
Kenngo1969 Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Garden Girl,Dogs have owners. Cats have staff. Link to comment
Kenngo1969 Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 (edited) All right... my folks had a really smart Border Collie the vet described as a "herder"... but...He wasn't any smarter than my Bobby-cat... perhaps it's because it's just the two of us that we are so in tune, but he really can communicate. If Bob could talk, he would. He gives me wonderful laughs as he opens the cupboard doors, the closet doors. I can always tell where he's been as I'm having to close them as I walk through the house. He stands on his hind legs and puts his front paws on the top of the cupboard door, then walks backwards pulling the door open. He loves to go in and look around. The doors sometimes close but he knows how to push against them to get out. He likes to open my sliding closet door and go in and sleep behind the clothes.But most of all, it's the way he looks right into my eyes and goes "Meeeooowwww" as he jumps up against me or puts his paws around my arm when he wants something. Like a little kid saying "Pleeeease" He has a hundred little "ways" about him that are so funny/cute, and a mind of his own!If I ever do get a dog I wouldn't mind one like my folks'. It wasn't that hyper. He adored my dad.GGAnother funny thing about Pip: she did not like cats. You could say the word "cat," and she'd go nuts, as if to say, "Cat??!!! Where?!!!" Perhaps she would say, "I had a reputation for not liking cats, but it was all a big misunderstanding: I liked cats just fine; I just thought they were chew toys!" (I'm sure, however, that since she's been on the other side, she's lost her enmity for cats. ) Garden Girl, your cat sounds like quite a character. Edited December 2, 2011 by Kenngo1969 Link to comment
Garden Girl Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Garden Girl,Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.Ha! I hear you!! Link to comment
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