It never ceases to amaze me how smart doodles are and how quickly they learn and how they remember things! There is a trick I taught Tucker about a year ago and I had forgotten about it. Decided to try it to see if he would remember- he did. Tucker has learned to do quite a few tricks / commands that are not so uncommon and I thought it would be nice to hear from others ( maybe I need motivation)........Does your doodle have talents??
Tara has a particular talent that has caused us to hire her as a part time employee for our business (she gets paid in treats). Part of the business involves shipping parcels. The parcels are in the garage and the computer/label printer are at the opposite end of the house. I print the labels and Tara carries them (rolled and in her collar) down the hall, through the living room, through the kitchen and to the garage door. At that point DH is waiting and trades a treat for the label. Then she returns to the office for the next one. Whenever Tara hears the printer powering up she runs to sit in front of it waiting to go to work!
I also use this skill occasionally when DH is outside and I can't find him. I put a note in her collar and tell her to "take it to Daddy" and off she goes.
Darwin's talents are less conventional. He isn't very quick at learning tricks and it takes A LOT of long, patient steps for him to learn any complicated tricks. (still working hard on "say your prayers") anyways, I totally love him that way. He's a sweet, goofy boy and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I would say that three best talents are
A - Looking adorable
B - Eating. A lot.
C - Being a total love bug!
It seems that Tara is more the mental type than the physical type. She loves games and learning new things. By the time she was 9 weeks old (one week with us) she knew sit, down, come, high five and shake. (Not always perfectly but she understood the words). This scared me because at that point I had taught her everything I knew!! That was when I realized my dog was smarter than me!! I recently bought a book called "101 Dog Tricks,Step- by- Step Activities to Engage, Challenge and Bond with Your Dog". It is full of photos and is really easy to follow. DH and I chose 1 new trick each to teach Tara. Both for selfish reasons. He is teaching her to jump up into his arms so he won't have to bend over to pick her up (He is 6'4"). Three trys and she had that one down. Mine is to teach her to roll over. I know this is basic but I have never been able to teach it to her and I thought it might be helpful during grooming sessions. So far she has the "roll" part down but not the "over". So she just ends up on her side which is actually what I want. Maybe I should be teaching " play dead"...
Well... Of course Tori has many talents, but we should have known how 'special' she was when she first came to us. she actually chose her name by reading the names on the papers we placed on the floor in front of her. She ran to the papers, read each one and then picked her own name. Another 'less impressionable' talent - so to speak, is being able to find the fish in the pond when asked "Where's the fish"... maybe we should take her to the beach to help us catch some fish - LOL (Oh yeah and she is an awesome Frisbee player!)