Posted: Nov 01, 2019 8:56 pm
Fallible wrote:Hmm, the greyhound is in the average working intelligence group, apparently obeying first command 50% of the time. My experience is after 4 years, Charles has yet to master the mysterious art of responding to ‘sit’ 10% of the time. And yet...and yet...he responds to first command to “come here” around 75% of the time, and whistle recall is about the same. I read that sitting is not a natural position for the fat arsed gonks of the dog world, so maybe that’s something to do with it.
Mongrels I guess are a mixed bag. Zeb appears to be very quick. He learns a new command in about 10 minutes, and retains it well. The problem is he is not reliable - not through density, but through unauthorised independent thought. Terrier x = reliably-work-alone dog. So if he decides your reason for wanting him to “come here” isn’t good enough, he won’t.
Yep, my two border collies do that sometimes.
I found out recently I can call my dogs off from chasing a squirrel with a word. They will stop the chase at a command. It’s terribly impressive. Particularly since they want that squirrel to die in the worst way.