The Genius in Untrained Dogs

I don’t train my dogs! Now that I have your attention, it’s not that I don’t train them, of course I do, however, there are so many things dogs do to show us their genius, that are not trained by humans.

When I was 5 years old, my parents adopted a Cocker Spaniel mix puppy that we named Dixie. My parents had no clue how to train a dog, and she was a little hellion. If someone accidentally left the door open, she would run around the neighborhood, and my poor mom would chase her, of course only inspiring Dixie to continue her shenanigans until she was exhausted.

One time, in the middle of the night, the neighbor called our home in a panic. His wife had just gone into labor and he had no one to care for their 3 year old son. They brought over the, still sleeping, boy, put him in our guest bed, and off they went to the hospital, trying  to make it before baby #2 was born in the car!

Some time, around 3:00 am, my parents were awakened by Dixie barking and pacing around their bedroom. Alarmed by her behavior they followed her to the guest bedroom, only to find that the boy was gone! Still barking and now heading down the stairs, my parents followed Dixie to to the front door which was open! Without thinking, they ran out of the house, desperately looking for this child, and in their haste, Dixie ran out too. Dixie running around outside, was the least of their worries, but suddenly she appeared barking and circling, trying to get them to follow her which they did. There was the crying boy, standing on the stoop of his home!

Quite an amazing feat, especially for an untrained dog. More astonishing, was that she followed my parents, with the boy, back to our house!

Many years ago, and way before I began my education in training and animal behavior, I adopted a 4 month old Bull Terrier that I named Bill. Because the popular training methods at the time were harsh and often times abusive, I was not going to subject this “baloney with legs”, as he was called by friends, to anything that would hurt him or undermine our relationship, which is why I avoided doing any training with him.

Throughout his almost 16 years, I believe he knew how to sit for a cookie, and I was fine with that. Whatever behavior quirks he developed, I managed by limiting his exposure to these situations that triggered his anxiety.

However, when I was eventually introduced to a kinder, gentler training method I was hooked and began training my dogs that I had at the time. I also went to school and then started training professionally. The funny thing is that I was so busy training my clients’ dogs, that in my spare time, I wasn’t motivated to do anything elaborate with my dogs in the way of training. Don’t misunderstand, I trained basics things that they needed to know, mostly for their own safety, but certainly nothing that would have prepared them for, say, the Olympics!

And today, I carry on that “non-training” tradition, and by quietly observing their behaviors, I have found that my dogs have learned how to communicate with me extremely well. For example, they tell me when it’s mealtime, and when they need to go for a walk. Okay, I can imagine that you are not impressed since most dogs do that, even the trained ones… But these dogs will also tell me when their resting mats are positioned the wrong way, when the water bowl needs to be filled, when they don’t like, for example, the chopped apples that I’ve added to their food. And when they really don’t like a particular food, one of my dogs will toss it in the air and bark! 

The other day, I picked up one of my dog’s rubber food-puzzle, but I couldn’t find the identical one that belongs to the other dog. I held it up, looked at the dogs and asked them where the other puzzle was. Okay, not really expecting that they had a clue what I was asking, as I proceeded to search around, but within a few minutes, my little guy, (the one who tosses food that he doesn’t like) was barking and pushing the found toy in my direction! That same question has also been answered by my other dog, searching for a totally different item! Dogs can certainly be taught how to do what is called, “Matching samples”, but my dogs have not been trained to do this!

A few years back during a very cold winter day, I came home to find that one of my dogs had pulled a towel off a shelf, dragged it over to his resting mat, and covered himself! One can teach this behavior from trick-training books, but did I mention that my dogs have not been trained to do such things?

This morning, my big dog sat up in bed and pawed my head. Not because she needed to go out, but rather she was communicating that it was time for me to start the day. After I got dressed, I return to the bedroom, and that’s when both dogs jumped out of bed, ready for their walk. I think it is genius. My cat does this too, and he’s also not trained.

I have learned to appreciate my dogs, not so much for the few things I’ve taught them, but rather what they have taught themselves. Now you may be wondering, since I’ve mentioned that over the years, I’ve had other untrained dogs, why these two should be Mensa International members, and the others, not so much. Here’s what I believe to be true. I didn’t train Bill, but I also didn’t spend my time closely observing him. My next two dogs, also untrained, and while they were very amusing, I didn’t have the experience or eye for detail to appreciate the skills that they had picked up.

Now, many years later, I’ve changed how I help clients train their dogs, using more silent communication, lots of observation, and giving the dogs freedom to experiment which behaviors will be reinforced by their human care taker.

For my dogs, this has been a major shift in how I relate to them. You see I give them a lot of choice and let them be themselves without fear of any retribution. This has allowed them to communicate in a way that all dogs can, having lived with humans for thousands of years, however, I believe, it has been the harsh traditional training, that has stifled dogs from wanting to communicate. These poor dogs have been raised to respond only when being commanded to do so, or else!

Fortunately, with modern force-free training we can do much better with our dogs, and for those pet-parents who are inspired to learn this, the benefit is seeing their dog communicating on a level that is pure genius!

HAPPY TRAINING & ENRICHMENT

© Fran Berry CPDT-KA, UW-AAB all rights reserved 2022