If Lassie was really good at showing you where the dog food shelf was. He is really good at showing me and it is super cute, except it never, ever works to get him food. I’m not sure what this means about Gustavo.
Perhaps Gustavo believes that you need lots of reinforcement of behaviors you are already good at, so you don't lose the good behavior (like knowing where the dog food shelf is).
This may mean that he has a low opinion of your, er, intelligence?
So this morning, I open the back door for Ruby to go out, and then leave it open a crack instead of shutting it all the way.
Gustavo runs over, and just stands there for a really long time, staring at it. I think he is using psychic abilities to open it and he has, actually, no psychic abilities. It doesn't occur to him to stick his nose in the crack and open the door. He never looks over at me to see if I would open it. He just stands there staring.
Eventually Otterpop comes over with a bone in her mouth. It is way too large to fit through the door. So she drops it in front of the door, re-picks it up in a different teeth grip, and then uses it as a tool to open up the door wide enough for 2 dogs and lets them both out.
So maybe if I got him some food for when he figures out how to get me to follow him to the dog food shelf, I would be reinforcing some good, taking initiative behavior? Instead of weird, psychic staring?
Is he conducting an experiment on me? Maybe Otterpop put him up to this.
Er, well, if you think about the very foundation of dog training as having your dog focused on you and thinking about behaviors to offer you…well, maybe Gustavo is actually the human and you are the dog, Laura!
Perhaps Gustavo believes that you need lots of reinforcement of behaviors you are already good at, so you don't lose the good behavior (like knowing where the dog food shelf is).
This may mean that he has a low opinion of your, er, intelligence?
So this morning, I open the back door for Ruby to go out, and then leave it open a crack instead of shutting it all the way.
Gustavo runs over, and just stands there for a really long time, staring at it. I think he is using psychic abilities to open it and he has, actually, no psychic abilities. It doesn't occur to him to stick his nose in the crack and open the door. He never looks over at me to see if I would open it. He just stands there staring.
Eventually Otterpop comes over with a bone in her mouth. It is way too large to fit through the door. So she drops it in front of the door, re-picks it up in a different teeth grip, and then uses it as a tool to open up the door wide enough for 2 dogs and lets them both out.
So maybe if I got him some food for when he figures out how to get me to follow him to the dog food shelf, I would be reinforcing some good, taking initiative behavior? Instead of weird, psychic staring?
Is he conducting an experiment on me? Maybe Otterpop put him up to this.
Er, well, if you think about the very foundation of dog training as having your dog focused on you and thinking about behaviors to offer you…well, maybe Gustavo is actually the human and you are the dog, Laura!
What does this make Otterpop?