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A good friend of mine had an Aussie who was really smart. My friend was a dog trainer, and she once told me "the secret is Grace (the dog) does most of it - the

A good friend of mine had an Aussie who was really smart. My friend was a dog trainer, and she once told me "the secret is Grace (the dog) does most of it - the puppies learn better by watching her demonstrate, and she keeps them in line". One day a mutual friend of ours died in a car wreck. I went to see my friend and we were sitting there telling stories and grieving... Grace read the room and brought my friend her favorite movie on dvd - something she watched when she was feeling blue. Grace wasn't quite sure what to do for me, but she brought me the cup I usually drank from when I was visiting. I don't know how much of that to attribute to smarts, training, and/or natural empathy, but that was an impressive dog, and its an impressive breed for sure!

bongodongobob 3y ago
I believe it. Apparently that's how herding dogs train on farms. You just buy a puppy and it literally shadows the adult. They train themselves.
- RoyalHenOil 3y ago
  I have two koolies (an Australian herding breed that is very closely related to Australian shepherds, border collies, and kelpies). I got my older dog during the lockdowns when I had a lot of free time to train him, and I got my younger dog a couple years later, when I had much less time to train her. The younger one has taught herself almost everything the older one knows, mostly by observing him, but sometimes by him actively trying to teach her. When she doesn't know something, he shows obvious signs of frustration and urging: I give a command, he does the thing I'm asking for, she doesn't react because she doesn't know the command, and then he starts growling and harumphing (and sometimes even air snaps near her face to get her attention) until she follows his lead.
- VHRanger 3y ago
  Herding is a self rewarding behavior for herding breeds. You can train herding by simply stopping the herding when he messes up (negative punishment). As long as he does it correctly he keeps doing it (positive reinforcement). For my border collie it's similar in agility. He doesn't care about treats and barely needs toys - doing the agility is the reward for learning it for him
- adishy 3y ago
  Transfer learning on (cute) biological neural nets!

bongodongobob 3y ago

I believe it. Apparently that's how herding dogs train on farms. You just buy a puppy and it literally shadows the adult. They train themselves.

RoyalHenOil 3y ago
I have two koolies (an Australian herding breed that is very closely related to Australian shepherds, border collies, and kelpies). I got my older dog during the lockdowns when I had a lot of free time to train him, and I got my younger dog a couple years later, when I had much less time to train her. The younger one has taught herself almost everything the older one knows, mostly by observing him, but sometimes by him actively trying to teach her. When she doesn't know something, he shows obvious signs of frustration and urging: I give a command, he does the thing I'm asking for, she doesn't react because she doesn't know the command, and then he starts growling and harumphing (and sometimes even air snaps near her face to get her attention) until she follows his lead.
VHRanger 3y ago
Herding is a self rewarding behavior for herding breeds. You can train herding by simply stopping the herding when he messes up (negative punishment). As long as he does it correctly he keeps doing it (positive reinforcement). For my border collie it's similar in agility. He doesn't care about treats and barely needs toys - doing the agility is the reward for learning it for him
adishy 3y ago
Transfer learning on (cute) biological neural nets!