In article ,
J. Clarke wrote:
Old Nick wrote:

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 13:56:33 -0400, "J. Clarke"
vaguely proposed a theory
......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email


We also had a big Chesapeake Retriever who would 'shake' _on_command_ --
no, not 'shake hands', though he did that too, but after a bath. We
would tell him 'stand still', tent a big towel over him, and say 'Okay,
_now_
shake', whereupon he would. Was also _real_ handy when bringing him in
from outside when it was raining or snowing.

Probably a big surprise for those who can't resist giving orders to
somebody else's dog too.

Hehe! Hate em. Had one the other day. As soon as he saw the dog he
commented that she was "Juuust not overweight" (she's not overweight),
and then told her to sit (which the bugger did much faster for him
than for me, but hey, it was probably surprise) for no reason at all.
Then he said "shake, and held his hand down to her paw. I said "She
doesn't shake" ......and he just held his hand there. It felt good to
see her just Sit, as ordered and look at him! G.

I reckon they are just one step form the guys who can't help hitting
on everyone's partner. It's a power thing.

I can understand why you get the average retriever to learn to shake
water on command! However, all my dogs have learned that one. As was
said it's very useful.

My favorite in that regard was the mutt (i.e. of no identifiable breed--the
closest one could narrow it down to was that it wasn't a cat)

Ah. _That_ breed is often described as a 'purebred Heinz'


Then there was the time a guy took one of those critters into a bar where
a bunch of dog fanciers were holding session. Who immediately start ridiculing
the new arrival. Eventually, one of the guys asks the newcomer "Just _what_
kind of a dog *is* that, anyway?" The reply: "he's a Mexican Spitz." Which
sets the crowd off, again. Somebody deigns to explain "There ain't any such
animal." Whereupon the dog looks up, and says "Señor? Ptui!"

that learned
a command that sounded an awful lot like "sit". He didn't know or do "sit"
but sometimes if someone told him to "sit" he'd do the command that he did
know.

Mistakes _can_ happen, when you let somebody with a sever lisp try to teach
him to expectorate on command. *grin*