After a few months of constant training, I have come to a conclusion that 'old dogs don't do new trick' is absolutely wrong. Samson understands virtually all the command I teach except some he chose not to comply, I leave some room for him to make decision for himself, so a general idea is I would tell him what I want him to do, such as 'finish your plate', if he decides he eats all the chicken and rice but not the regular dog food, I leave him alone.
He gets a lot more comfortable now, he gets a hang of our routine everyday is basically the same. He will get a morning 'get some fresh air' walk for 20 minutes, then expect a brunch, then he would hang around with us or lying down by the window to watch the birds fly by. Dog does not wear a watch, but he would give one loud bark if dinner was not served at 5pm sharp. I wonder how he knows the time?!
We normally have dinner at 6pm, after our dinner, Victor would ask Samson: "Do you want to go for a WALK?" then he jumps up and down as he would almost nod to say "yes", along with spinning himself in front of our legs. Ok we got it, you want to take a hike.
Using a leash to walk the dog is the law here in South Florida, as free-spirit as we are, we do not obey the law all the time. ^_^ We would start out from our backyard where joined with the 6th hole green, walk to the water & ice station of the golf course at the 7th hole tee, then we take off Samson's leash, let him run free on the fairway, he gets to chase squirrel, smell other animals' footprint, do his tracking, flush the bird along the edge of a lake. By the time we reach the 8th hole's fairway, we put a leash around him again because there is a road where cars drive by next to the fairway, then we let him run free again at the 2nd hole till we get home by the 6th hole.
There is only one condition Samson has to comply during this freedom walk, he must come back when call. Victor whistles very loudly, all of a sudden we'd see Samson run out from the bushes somewhere, usually I would give him a piece of cookie or water, in order to let him know: coming back when called is a good thing, you get cookie! Samson comes to expect this freedom walk everyday, when we finished dinner, he would pace himself at the door to wait for our call, he knows he is getting this adventure time.
Sometime Victor would talk to him like a human, surprisingly Samson would react as if he understands English. Yesterday Samson was holding (using his mouth of course) his toy before our freedom walk, Victor said: "Samson, drop it, we can't bring your toy to walk with us. Drop it."
Samson dropped his toy then shoot straight out the door!
There is a gesture Samson does when he asks something from me, he knows I taught him a 'Down' position and like him doing it. When I am eating a piece of cheese, he would come over to my feet, nudge my leg with his nose then slowly lowering his body to a 'Down' position. He is asking me to share this piece of cheese with him, usually I do after this asking gesture.
A lot of trainer discourage this kind of behavior stating that the dog would get pushy, we human should be the one who decides all the terms and when the food should be given. My personal opinion is in order to strengthen the bond between your animal and you, you must endorse a request when your animal ask for it if it's reasonable, you must let your animal knows he/she has a choice too but I would prefer the choice I provided, the animal should have the right to decide. How can I communicate with my dog if I only ask him listen and comply to my command but I forsake his?
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