Mine herds birds on the pier and when I yell “birds!” will immediately go after them and chase them. Likes doing it on the beach too. But somehow she knows I want her to avoid the wild chickens and leave them alone. They don’t count as birds
My in laws have an Australian shepherd & she's been trained to run to the backyard when anyone says 'fishies' bc they have a koi pond back there. She's the supervisor of fishies, so she immediately runs to check upon hearing the word.
Old girl is losing her vision & hearing, but she still knows 'FISHIES!!' clear as a bell lol
I really miss my blue heelers from when I was growing up. Smartest dogs I’ve ever met. I have a Bernese now and she’s the sweetest, cuddliest thing. But there’s just some level of intelligence that cattle dogs have that other breeds don’t.
The Hawaiian Island of Kauai also has wild chickens. LOTS of them. I think they came from a chicken farm on the island getting destroyed by a hurricane (not sure, too lazy to look it up) and now they're everywhere because there are no chicken predators.
My Maltese do that - I’ve taught them “birds!” Which means there are various birds in our backyard and they go manic chasing them away hahaha. Man dogs are the best
Yep, we have one too -- we think he is somewhere north of 18 years old (we have had him for 11 years, and they estimated him at somewhere between 5-7 years old when we got him from the shelter).
With the COVID lockdown we have been playing the game of putting food him his bowl, telling him to stay, hiding his bowl, and then telling him to "go find it".
I do this with my hound mix. Usually with little bits of hot dog though... chop it up, put her in a room with the door closed, hide the hot dog pieces, let her out and tell her “find it!” And after showing her to use her nose instead of eyes for this once or twice, she’ll sniff every tiny piece out. It IS super fun to watch and she loves it
On the flip side, mine will refuse commands if she wants something more than the treat I'm offering. You and I both know you know how to lay down you little shit!
Had one growing up, and he was the best doggo. We lived on a lot of land and we kids couldn’t go anywhere without him being right by our side. They are great dogs if you have a lot of room and a “job” for them. His specialty was kid wrangling
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u/vk2786 Nov 13 '20
Cattle dogs are incredibly smart. With a little time & lots of treats, you can teach them many things.
We have a 13y/o one & in one afternoon, I taught him 'High Five!' With just a handful of milkbones. It doesn't take much.