Rosie with two balls

Four month old Rosie worked on this technique for carrying two small tennis balls beginning about a month ago. It is a good trick that requires positioning them in her mouth precisely and it was a thing she planned on her own. Do other dogs instinctively do the same thing? I suspect they all have tricks of their own, just as human beings seek ways to entertain themselves and learn at the same time. If this brief movie has not loaded to facebook, go to my blog, Wisdomofhands.blogspot.com or to youtube: https://youtu.be/zy9ugdVLrmU

Rosie tried the trick once and it was only after a number of attempts she was able to pick both up at the same time. To her it was not a trick, but something that needed to be done. She decided on her own to perfect the trick by practicing it over and over again. In order to get the balls in her mouth at the same time, she has to hold one ball in the side of her mouth while she positions the other ball with a paw. Then she has to open her mouth just enough to add the second ball without dropping the first.

Q. What gets into a dog that would make it want to perfect a trick like this on her own? A. The same thing that gets into each if us to drive learning and differentiation. Children and dogs each feel the need to be good at something. They need not all be good at the same tricks, and it is best that they not be. The future of the planet is dependent on sustaining diversity of species and thought.

For my regular readers, I've been attending to other things of late, including Rosie the goldendoodle. If you miss these posts, I'll remind that 12 years of regular posts to the Wisdom of the Hands Blog are available here: http://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com

We are down to just a few making days before Christmas. This being the time of year for reflection, I'm planning new things for the coming year.

Make, fix and create...