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| You can't contain me! (Zoe) Meanwhile, Phoenix is the good girl. |
Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you're all having a fun weekend!
With the way I train my dogs: positive reinforcement, clicker training, shaping, puzzle toys, etc, both of my dogs ability to problem solve would knock your socks off. I encourage them to try stuff and I never want them to be afraid to work things out. They are active thinkers and doers. They are both very quick to pick things up and sometimes because of this they can get into mischief. I do pride myself on my ability to use management to keep them out of trouble but occasionally they outsmart me. Zoe is typically the ring leader and she is the smartest of the two.
Recently I was asked to hold the fort at my work for a pet massage clinic. I didn't need to help out with the clinic, just keep an eye on the building and do some cleaning. The girls went with me.
I knew that when I set up that expen (in the photo above), one if not both of my dogs would figure out how to get out of it. Directly behind Phoenix is a sitting bench that they've both used. I left them in there for 10 minutes so I could air out the building and when I came back and Zoe had escaped!
It was actually pretty hilarious and not a big deal. There's nothing in that office that they can get into. I already did my preliminary sweep of the place before I left them alone. I was just using the expen to keep them away from the glass to prevent barrier frustration with the other dogs walking by and I wanted to see how long it took them to escape out of it if I set it up in the corner.
They are actually really well behaved in there for the most part. They both fell asleep while I was getting some work done for my boss people and we had a pretty awesome afternoon.
Have you ever noticed any problem solving behaviors in your dogs? Tell me about it in the comment section below!
Love it! Hailey is a problem solver. She also would figure out how to get out. Phod probably would too, but if I told him to stay, he is more likely to do what I ask.
ReplyDeleteThose girls are so smart! Barley does things like that, too--like when she opened my parents' backdoor and let herself back in while she was in exile from her cousin! For somethings, I try to encourage her curiosity and problem solving, but when it comes to barriers, I usually discourage that because she's usually behind the barrier for her own safety--I don't even have her do a paws up pose on a chain link fence because I don't want her to remember that's something she should do when she's in my parents' dog run. But for opening boxes or getting her treat dispensing toys out of tight spots, I'm all about making her work out those issues herself!
ReplyDeleteThey are so cute and so well behaved.
ReplyDeleteI linked this post to Awww Mondays.
Have a woof woof Labor Day and Awww Monday too. My best to your mom. ☺
what good dogs! Have a lovely day!
ReplyDeleteOur pawrents only use the positive obedience too. Our mom was amazed at how (where) we solved our problem the other day when the doggie door would not open.
ReplyDeleteYour Pals,
Murphy & Stanley
What a little smarty pants! She looks so proud of herself. My Husky is too smart for her own good. She often figured out how to steal the neighbor dog's toys through the chain link fence. So embarrassing!
ReplyDeleteLove & biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
They're the cutest pair! Nola is fantastic at problem solving. I remember her at 9 weeks learning to climb over the x-pen....
ReplyDeleteMy mom doesn't want us problem solving things like this as she wants us to stay behind bars if put there, but we do a lot of problem solving with our sports activities and we are good at that. We work really hard and sometimes it takes us a while, but we figure things out.
ReplyDeleteZoe and Phoenix are beautiful dog kids. One is just more adventurous than the other.
ReplyDelete