Chet Baker: Training Humans

This dog has us all figgered out. He knows that he gets away with about anything by being himself, which is to say impossibly cute. Most mornings, I find him lying crosswise, right through the middle of the bed, taking up the room of 1.5 humans. And what does he get for it? He gets called Sugar Peanut, and he gets a kiss on his cold little gumdrop nose.

I could pretty much run video and get good stuff every time somebody walks into the kitchen, because wheedling treats from people is what Chet Baker does best. Last evening was no exception. I made my usual rambling pointless dopey dog video. Brevity, I am not your soul. 

But something really cool happened in this little video. I saw Chet employing what amounts to clicker training on his (admittedly rather slow to learn) Daddeh. Chet was consciously giving Bill positive reinforcement for doing the right thing (making motions to pour a little bowl of milk for Chet). And he consciously avoided reinforcing Bill for doing the wrong thing (pouring the milk in the sink). 

When Bill makes motions toward giving Chet what he wants (a wee bowl of milk), Chet woofs and wags. Bill is encouraged to do the right thing.

When Bill makes motions toward pouring the milk in the sink, Chet sits stock-still. Effectively, he's ignoring the behavior he doesn't want. Bill is not encouraged for doing the wrong thing.

Right there, this dog is a better trainer than most of we humans are. No wonder we scramble to do the right thing in Chet's estimation, which is to give him LOTS OF TREATS.

No wonder he is The Cylindrical Pig.

Better keep running, you little rasher of BACON.

 

Sucking it in. We all do it.

Thanks to Murr Brewster  for inspirato. If you haven't read Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training by Karen Pryor, well, you should. Right, Murr? Best part: it doesn't just work for dogs. It works on people, too. Ideally.

Chet Baker and Wally the Kooikerhondje: Trick Time

We kept a Dutch Kooikerhondje named Wally for a little over a week while his owners (Oona's family, for those who've been reading this blog since dinosaurs walked the earth) were at the beach. This dog was bred to play in the water and attract ducks so the ducks could be shot. A Kooikerhondje is different in build and coloration from a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, which is a better-known breed. But both were bred to lure in wild ducks by fooling around at the water's edge.  Now, knowing a little bit about wild ducks, I find this little breed purpose fable hard to believe. But that's the story and they're sticking to it. And Boston terriers were bred to sit by their owners in the stands while the owners watched dogfights. Uh-huh. Chet Baker would definitely want to help with the dogfight. He'd be the last person I'd take to a dogfight, a giant pain in the *** at a dogfight. If I were the kind of person who went to dogfights. As if anyone who owned a Boston terrier would be into dogfights. Honestly. You see the problem. It simply can't be.

Wally is one of the most beautiful dogs I've ever seen, with a kind, sweet demeanor and the most luxuriant silky fur imaginable. Note the little black "earrings" of hair adorning his ears. A breed trait. The function of the earrings is...oh, never mind.   Wally is a little timid compared to Chet, and his bag of stupid pet tricks perhaps not stuffed quite so full as Chet Baker's. They get along terrifically well, with only one big snarling bout when Wally tried to horn in on Chet's chicken livers. In order for any dog to get along with Bacon, he must acquiesce dominance entirely. Then things will go just fine. Wally was awesome on our runs, forging out well ahead of me and Chet, but always coming right back when called, and dropping to lie down on the shoulder when a car passed. Ol' Silverchops and I ran that dog's pretty little feet off. We did two 6.8 milers, several 4.8's...he loved it all.

Flashy.

So Phoebe thought she might send Wally home with a new trick for his family to enjoy, and tried to teach him to shake hands. Watch what happens when she settles in for a little training session. Please do not miss the very beginning of the video, when Chet Baker is just finishing an impressive Roll Over in an attempt to gain Phoebe's attention. Gack. I grabbed my phone and made this amateur vid. I did remember to turn the phone on its side this time. But forgot not to cackle into the mic. Sorry. Again.

I'm old enough to remember Jack Benny. If you are, and I bet you are, see if Chet's withering stares at me remind you of anyone...

Nobody puts Baker in a corner!

Chet Baker's Trick Show

At age nine, Chet Baker is out to disprove the adage about old dogs and new tricks. Phoebe has just taught him how to sit up, a neat trick for a long-bodied dog like him. 

Liam taught him how to high-five.

Phoebe convinced him he could sit up without having his hand held.

It didn't take him long to figure out what we wanted. He's a highly trainable little gemmun. 

Being a natural ham, he embellishes the show with piglike grunts and a captivating smile. 

Enjoy this little glimpse of the Cutest Doggeh Of Any Age, Ever.

And please excuse my own piglike grunts and snorts, done directly into the iPhone mic.

Congratulations to Phoebe, Bowdoin Class of 2018!! Maine, here she come. Says she loves winter.

OK then. We'll come pick you up in June.

Whoa. This is Post # 1802, since December 2005.

Wanna follow Chet Baker on Facebook? Go here for a daily dose of silly.

Chet Baker, Boston Terrier (Entertainer)  on Facebook

xo jz

Chet Baker Won't Go!

Here's a little slice of life with Chet Baker. I love this video because it shows so many classic and sly dog avoidance behaviors. A little background first.  Chet Baker loves to run, more than almost anything. But truth be told, he really only wants to run with me. I'm his Alpha female, and whatever I'm doing is exactly what he wants to do. I wish he'd go willingly with others, but he seems to consider that cheating on me. When I'm traveling, Phoebe can very occasionally get him to run with her, but she has to trick him. She tells him we're going to go find me. And the little man gets desperate enough to believe her. Awww. And he'll do a whole run with her, but she has to watch him as they pass the end of our driveway or he will turn in and go back to check the house just one more time, to see if I've magically appeared. And there he'll stay, waiting, watching the driveway. Chet. Really. It's OK to run with other people.

So we all know that when she asks him if he wants to go for a run with her, he's going to demur. I had my iPhone ready to catch that. Watch what happens in this video.


                       o



First, he enlists my help. Please don't let her do this, Mether. You know I can't leave you. Something might happen to you. Sorry, Bacon. I'm making a video of you, can't help you now.

Then, when carried outside and called to join Phoebe and Liam, he pretends he's seen something around on the other side of the house. Pretending is a fairly sophisticated means of deception, but it's used by all kinds of animals, from great apes to birds. Jays and magpies will pretend to bury something edible when they know they're being watched, then "palm" the item and quietly hide it elsewhere. Piping plovers and kildeer, among others, do an amazing "false brooding" behavior that's fooled me many times--settling down onto empty sand just as if they had eggs or chicks beneath them. You go to investigate, and the bird runs off, leaving an empty depression, no eggs, no chicks.

  So Chet dashes off around the corner as if there's a deer to be chased. He comes back, knowing the ruse didn't work, but decides to try it again in another direction, pretending to study something out in the meadow. Oh look. A deer or something. Will ya look at that?

Finally Phoebe tells him that they'll go look for Mether, the trick she uses when I'm traveling. This is a suggestion he clearly finds flat-out ridiculous, and he turns on his heels and trots decisively right back to me. His brisk pace, laid-back ears and head angle say it all. Can you believe this girl? You're right HERE. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

 We're all chuckling at this point, Chet too, as he settles down to sit on the porch and watch them leave without him.

He ain't sorry. He's already done his run today. Long as Mether's with him his world is right. Is it any wonder we love our dogs so? You can fail completely at any number of human endeavors, but still be your dog's whole world. Lord, help me be the person my dog thinks I am. 

Chet Baker Gets a Present!

Chet Baker is a lucky dog. He has lots of people who love him and some of them send him presents. One of them is Miss Dee, who made a special doggie sleeping bag for The Bacon. I knew it was coming; she had told me.

A package arrived at about 2 pm, and Chet's eyes twinkled when he saw me carrying it. His ears perked up and he began to dance. He figures anything that comes in the mail is for him. Wonder why?


No, no, Chet Baker. You may not open this. You have to wait until everyone's home, and I will make a video of you opening it. So you wait.

And I put it on the kitchen table. Aww, Mether. Why?

Because. You wait. Don't you open that package.

After he'd gotten it.  It's a puppy pouch. He's not using it correctly here, because he's supposed to be inside it, but boy does he LOVE it. I bundle him up in it and that's the last I hear from him until morning.

Just before dinner, I came into the kitchen carrying my little Canon G-12. Without my saying a word, Chet put two and two together. She has the camera. Ergo, I now get to open that mystery package. I'm tellin' ya. By the time a smart dog is eight years old, he's got your number. He knows everything about you, and forget hiding anything from him. You're like an old married couple.

Before I could even turn the camera on, he had leapt up onto one of the kitchen chairs, seized the package, and trotted into the living room to ravage it. Which sent me into gales of laughter, just knowing that he knew what I was going to do. It reminds me of a time when he was just a few months old.  He was sleeping in the living room and heard me turn on my little Olympus point-and-shoot  (it made a zooming sound when activated). He leapt up out of his bed and trotted into the kitchen and plumped himself down in front of me, ears up. You wanted to take pictures of me? Well, here I am!

 So I apologize, because this video is irreparably marred by the sound of my cackling from start to finish. Because I think everything Chet Baker does, with the exception of his noisome emanations, is funny. Obviously. So turn your speakers DOWN and enjoy the endless and unedited raw footage of Chet Baker being Chet Baker.

 

Thank you, Dee, for this wonderful hand-made gift. You hit the mark!