What does your inquisitive canine enjoy doing? Eat? Sleep? Play? All of the above? I know my sidekick Poncho enjoys doing all of those things, as well as any work-related task I ask him to do. I bring this up because of a great video I came across, that I’d like to share with you.
This video segment stars Jesse, a Jack Russell Terrier and his brilliant and talented handler Heather. Heather was able to really see Jesse for what he is, what he can do, and what he was able to learn. For pet parents, it’s the ideal way to capitalize on behaviors that you like and put them to good use – for both you and your dog. Or, it can be the perfect opportunity to replace unwanted behaviors with ones you want.
If you focus on the behaviors you’ll see Jesse using the follow canine skills:
- Retrieving to bring the remote and laundry
- Targeting, with his nose and paws to close doors and cabinets.
- Jumping up to bring things to Heather
- Digging – allow she used this motion to massage her back and clean the sliding door
- Tug – helping her get undressed and tuck himself in for bed.
Normally, many of these behaviors would make some owners nuts, right? But not when you put them to use in ways that are fun for your dog and helpful (and fun) for the humans.
So I ask you this, inquisitive pet parent: What can your dog do? What is he or she good at? What behaviors does he or she like to do that you could use differently? Comment to let us know because we’re inquisitive too!