Way-out Willie gave them all a treat, when he did that hand jive with his feet

[lizblackdog]

...just spent half an hour attempting to teach Spike to type. At the moment he's got as far as bashing the keyboard really hard with his front paws so I am using the old keyboard.

strangely enough Squish is actually a bit better at it, perhaps because when i hide the bit of corned beef under the keyboard he just nose-types, whereas Spike tries to flip the keyboard over.

*switches to own keyboard*


five minutes later: AH! Spike just made the intuitive leap!

Spike sez: g


^ ok, he isn't bashing the keyboard hard enough to make letters. But he is touching the keyboard with his nose on command now - in between the usual Spike-on-a-learning-curve activities like barking furiously at me, picking fights with Squish and dancing round the room with his food bowl in his teeth.

I love my dog.

Comments

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Spike learning tricks reminds me of myself as a kid trying to do homework - he gets all silly and starts doing anything except thinking, and then he capers round like as maniac acting-out and showing off. He's broken his bloody food bowl again being a dick, but it always cracks me up seeing him dance around with it and throw it in the air and pounce on it.

but - I think he's got it! At the moment I'm rewarding him for touching his nose to the keyboard - now I just have to get him poking a bit harder and actually hitting keys.