re: #296 The Shadow Do

In my experience the dog will instinctively look to you for clues. He really does want to do the right thing for you if you have been good to him. Sound will reinforce for sure, but I can get equal results by pointing or nodding. Dogs are amazing in their ability to interpret these simple clues.

I once made a bet (drinking of course) that I could make my dog do anything in reason without saying a word. Friend said make him jump in the bathtub. I looked at the dog, he looked at me, and I nodded in the direction I wanted him to go. He did, when in the bathroom he looked at me again and I nodded towards the tub. He immediately jumped in it.

Not one word. Not practiced. Dogs are very cool.

I know that dogs are very cool. Fuzzy was a mutt, but he was the perfect camp dog. His mother was a fox terrier and his father was a black lab (and don’t ask me how they managed it; I have no idea, and don’t even wanna picture it). He had a long low wide stocky body covered with thick black curly hair (hence the name Fuzzy), and weighed about 50 lbs. I raised and trained him to camp with me from a pup. He would follow me away from camp until we got out of sight of it or until we crossed water. He would then return (unless I told him to stay with me), and sit under a bush so that he could watch the camp without being seen. If someone approached while I was gone, he would put on his frightful face (and his canines were quite impressive), and interpose himself between my tent and the intruder, while bugling to let me know to hasten back. He also rested under a concealing bush when I was in camp, but then he would just yip so I’d know someone was approaching, then get up, wag his tail, and go greet the stranger.

He fell victim to a sudden, fast-acting bacterial infection that the vet couldn’t stop with all the antibiotics at his disposal. I still grieve his loss.

But as bright as he was, I couldn’t tell him what to do if he was on the other side of a hill or blocked by trees and I had laryngitis. But if he didn’t understand a verbal command, he would return to me for clarification.

I really loved him, and the way we worked together. He did, too - I could tell. The joy sparkled in his eyes.