Leading. And following

Yo readers. Guess who? Yup – it’s Elroy. Hope you had a good weekend.

Today I would like to talk to you about my experience as a follower.

What do I mean by “follower?” I am talking about canine following and how I have learned to follow the Boss’ lead. That’s why you see his picture – he’s the leader or the teacher. As I get older, I get more and more like him. Because I have learned from him. Well – at least in some things. I mean we DO have our individual differences- and although I’ve watched him retrieve a toy loads of times, I still prefer to do what I call “freestyle retrieving.” Sure – I go out to get the fetch toy when it’s thrown- but then I stop half way back and make her highness come to get it. I’m just trying to help her with those extra pandemic pounds. So the Boss and I DO differ in that regard.

But there are other things that I DO imitate and follow. For example, one thing that I have started to do is the reverse back up beep alert. You know how big trucks beep when they back up? Well, whenever the Boss hears that beep, he starts barking. For him it signals that we are getting an oil or propane delivery – so he must warn the drivers that there are “dangerous” dogs in the household. The Boss can even hear the beep at the neighbors’ house- which isn’t super close, and he’ll still bark out his warning. And I have recently started to bark along. “So what?” you might say – “you’re barking because he’s barking.” Nope – not entirely. Because last night her highness was watching some video on Waste Book (I call it that because she often wastes too much time on it) – and suddenly there was a truck in the video. And it started backing up – so it started beeping. And yours truly starred boofing. Yup. I thought it was the real thing. The Boss, on the other hand, was not fooled. But the point is, I learned the beep alert from him.

Another example: The Boss doesn’t like wearing a harness when he walks. He prefers to strangle himself. I do too – but frankly, I have never minded the harness. The Boss sees it coming and runs around the dining room table with her highness in pursuit. She always wins. Anyway, I watched him do the chase me routine – so now I do it too. So her highness has to go after both of us before our walks. Good times.

I never was one to mind grooming – but after watching the Boss run when he’s called into the Torture Palace, I now do the same thing. It’s really interesting to see how we learn from one another. I’m still not sure what he’s learned from me, though….Maybe to eat more slowly? Nah.

Anyway, if you are interested in learning a bit more about dogs learning from dog teachers, here’s an article about it:

https://moderndogmagazine.com/dog-learning

Now excuse me while we go and run around the dining room table before our walk. Monkey see. Monkey do…

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe.