Last edited Sat Dec 3, 2022, 03:32 AM - Edit history (1)
intelligence was almost spooky. I taught him a few things as a young puppy, like giving me his paw. He learned almost instantly. Never used treats for training him. Just interactions, hugs, and praise.
The "spooky" part was how much that he learned on his own, from context and inference, without being taught. And how he used his own discretion in decision making when he assessed situations. Plus his enormous vocabulary, some words taught directly by me and other ones that he picked up from context. Like Chaser in the video, my border collie could understand words put together, like nouns and verbs, in order to act with certain items as requested.
But there are other dogs who are very intelligent in many other ways. My sister and I had a dog that was a mix of lab and ? He learned the names of everyone in the family. You could give him something and say, "Take this to mom." And he would. Or, "Get your leash." We had to spell words that we didn't want him to know but eventually he figured out the spelling.
In my experience, the key to helping a dog develop its intelligence and cooperation is to treat it as a member of the family. Talk to it. Include it in activities. Praise it like you would with a child. Once it forms a bond with you, it will learn your moods, body language, and words.
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