The umbrella idea was one I was thinking of. I was wondering how I could alter a walking stick, with an attachment of some kind to flip open in front of my dog. I thought it would be quicker than trying to open an umbrella. lol

"sit" in the voice of doom has worked for me...... then again most dogs give Dex and his squealing routine a wide berth!

I would be reluctant to feed someone elses dog- but because they may be allergic to ingredients in your treats. I even know a dog who is allergic to chicken!!!

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Too true one bad experience can undo months of work. We were in a rainstorm on the way to dog class in the car and had to do a sudden emergency stop and my dog was alarmed when it rained hard while we were in the car for several journeys afterwards.

It's surprised me what dogs take as being normal if frequently exposed to these sounds though. My granny's Airedale Bob in the Second World War knew when the siren went to go into an air raid shelter and one day while he was out alone the siren went so he went with everyone to the nearest shelter. The Warden wasn't going to let him in but Bob growled at him so the Warden didn't argue the toss. Gran found out when the Postie who was in the shelter told her.

Thats an amazing story about your gran and the airdale, but both good examples, that dogs do learn by association, trouble is it can be by association in a good way, but equally in a bad way. obviously your grans wasnt noise sensitive or frightened by the noise, but learnt to associated the noise meant a certain behaviour was performed ie the shelter. Dogs are amazing really.

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I've no idea what it must have been like for noise sensitive dogs. I do feel sorry for the dog frightened by the fire alarm which you mentioned which was a good example of learning by association. How amazing and emotionally complex dogs are.

This can be the problem they are, they are also learning and taking cues all the time. Mine for example, know that when a certain coat or shoes go on its walks, so up they all get, if Im going out without them, obviously its a different coat/coats and shoes or boots, then they dont even bother to get up.

My Malamute even worked out how the ice cream van worked. I used to talk to the ice cream man. he started giving Kobi an ice cream a small one for him.
We noticed that as soon as he went for the handle he would put himself into a sit. He would even pull, and sit on the end of the cue and wait his turn if there was a cue. If there was no cue or not busy, the engine was turned off
(It needed the engine to be on for the machine to work) because he became spoilt and was probably amusing, the man used to often turn the engine on and make one especially for him. We then noticed he would put himself into a sit as soon as the engine went on. So he worked out/associated engine on yipee ice cream on way. More to the point, If he had one, it wasnt busy and the engine was turned off again, and we may have talked for awhile, and then went to walk away, and someone arrived for an icecream so the engine went back on and we were still in earshot, he would do an abrubt about turn and try to drag me back, and really start to throw his teddies out the pram sometimes when I wouldnt let him. I have told this story before btw, but its another good example about learning by association, and that they are learning all the time. It also usually gives some amusement to anyone who hasnt heard it before too

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Clever Kobi! I'm loving your example/story, which as a new member here is new to me.

Glad you enjoyed it he is quite a character, He loves people and often if he notices someone coming down the road behind us who he likes the look of will sit and wait for them if he can to get a fuss.

He tried to drag me on someones drive yesterday, Youngish Lad doing some work, who he obviously liked the look of, I was trying to move him on of course and the lad looked up, had to explain what he was doing, and as he is a great furry friendly lump luckily most cant resist him so he got his fuss then happily walked on. Which he probably knows and why he does it, back to learning by association and learned behaviour thats rewarded again

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