My favorite schnauzer came to visit again, Yes, Skyla, the sweetest little gal with the Greek name. I am astounded at this smart and well behaved fur child. Skyla is young, under a year, yet she behaves with the manners of a dog who has graduated from the Martha Stewart School for Doggies. In fact, I think she is going for her PhD soon!
Skyla still hasn't figured out Annie as yet. As you can see they have gotten nose to nose, with Skyla being so curious about the kitty. And, Annie is also curious as long as Skyla doesn't get to much closer in her face as you can see from her ears!
Oh, yes, back to why I said Skyla is so smart. Remember back to school days and the story of the Nobel prize winner, Ivan Pavlov and his dogs? Ivan Pavlov, the scientist, was able to measure reflexes and responses in dogs using various stimuli. The best known stimuli was ringing a bell before offering food to the dogs in his experiments. A conditioned measured response was elicited in the canines based on ringing the bell and offering food.
Skyla has her own bells that she has been taught to ring when she needs to take a walk. When nature calls, she rings her bell on the floor to signal nature is calling. I have been very impressed with this.
I had not idea how impressed I was until this visit. It seems that Skyla has gotten really good at bell ringing. So good in fact, that she has been ringing the bell a lot. It seems we have been on walks all day long. We no sooner come in from a walk when an hour or so passes and Skyla rings that bell. I grab the leash and out the door we go.
Well, I have to laugh now. It seems that Skyla really doesn't have a weak kidney or a loose bowel as it might sound. Much of the time, Skyla does nothing more than sniff the air, the grass and stroll, quite happily. In fact, it would be fair to say that Skyla was just faking me out!
It has taken me a couple of days, but I know realize that Skyla, the bell ringing dog, has learned the lessons of Ivan Pavlov quite well. In fact, she is so smart that she is using that bell of hers to elicit a conditioned response from this human! Sklya knows when she rings the bell, that I will jump to attention and take her on an outside adventure. So in truth, it is Skyla who should get the next Nobel Peace prize. Skyla has proven that Pavlov's dog can be anyone, including this human!
Way to go, Skyla! You got me! Yup! I think Skyla has a PhD already!
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