Trained by our pets...

I am always amazed at how well our family pets have trained us. It can be seen anytime people are walking their dogs, feeding the horses, grooming the cats. I'm not talking about the way we pick up after them on their walks or feed them when they push the food dish towards us. My kids have been doing that to me since birth, so it's a logical progression to keep doing that for our pets. Especially the clean up bit - from baby bottoms to the laundry. That will be another column one day. No, I'm talking about the times our pets get us to do things for them that we wouldn't even consider doing for the kids.

I'll recount an example.

We had a border collie/aussie shepherd cross we named Scout. And before anyone gets any ideas, I really didn't think it through when we named him. Especially the first time I called him back to me and said "Good boy, Scout". You may wince now.

Anyway, I believe this dog was actually a small fuzzy human that didn't speak English. Other than my wife, he was the smartest being I have ever known - smarter than a lot of people I know. Seriously. He had about a four hundred word vocabulary and could figure the best way to cross a stream without being dunked and the fastest way to get from one point to another. His body language and facial expression could convey a thousand words and meanings and he knew exactly what he was doing.

One evening, we decided to take the extended family out to Gap Lake, on the 1A Highway on the way to Canmore. It was a beautiful evening, warm and without a cloud in the sky. Scout was a bit of an anomaly for border collies. He loved to swim. If we were within a kilometre of any body of water, he would take off and meet us there. You wouldn't be able to drag him out of the water with a tow truck and a small donkey. You needed two or three sticks to throw as well, as the first stick really never made it back to you. Give him a break, he was herding dog, not a retriever. You also had to throw the stick the correct distance into the water. Too close and he would ignore it, too far and he wouldn't be able to see it to fetch.

My daughter found a couple of twigs and showed them to Scout. As I expected, he took a look at these sorry excuses for sticks and pretty much decided he wouldn't have anything to do with them. My daughter did not pick up on this. She fired a stick out into the lake, not nearly far enough and told Scout to go get it. He simply looked at her. then at the stick, then back at her. Thinking he couldn't see it well, my daughter tossed a rock right next to the stick to make a splash marker. Once again, Scout took a look at the stick, then back to my daughter.

"Fine" she says and wades out into the 4 degree water up to her shorts to get the stick back. As she gets to shore, Scout grabs the stick from her hand and chews it up a couple of times and throws it down again. My daughter picks it up again and throws it into the lake, again, not far enough. Once again Scout takes the look between the stick and my daughter and once again, she wades out to get it.

The third time she went into the water, Scout looked back at me from the edge of the lake with the biggest grin I have ever seen on a dog. He was so proud of her!!! Three easy lessons and she had it right! The rest of the family, safely ensconced on the shore, was duly impressed and gave him the ovation he deserved. Truly a master trainer!

Funny, my daughter wasn't nearly as impressed as the rest of us when we told what happened. Go figure.

In memoriam, Scout 1995 - 2008