What can I say? It made me smile and even laugh. It looks like this is in Asia somewhere, perhaps Vietnam. The dog has been trained to go shopping for his or her human caregiver. And he does a good job of it. He strikes a good bargain and probably ends up with more produce than he paid for as he takes an extra orange as he leaves the stallholder. She allows him to do it, I guess because she knows that it’s being filmed.
The dog wants more and at one stage the vendor tells the dog that it’s enough. He’s paid for so many items and he’s got those items and therefore ‘you cannot have any more’ but he doesn’t understand that or doesn’t want to understand. An incredibly cute little video, I think you will agree.
THERE ARE SOME ARTICLES ON TRAINED ANIMALS AT THE BASE OF THE PAGE
Like all examples of animal training, this dog has been trained either informally or formally using positive reinforcement. I am sure that you have heard about it. It’s a simple formula: your dog does something that you want them to do and you reward them for it with a food treat. This motivates them to do the same thing again. You instigate that behaviour with a signal which they also associate with the treat. Sometimes people use a clicker to connect the behaviour with the treat more efficiently. I guess it does not have to be a food treat. Any reward that a dog finds pleasurable will suffice. But there has to be that motivator.
Cats can be trained as well. A lot of cat training takes place informally in the home. And a lot of cat-on-human training takes place in the home as well. You have to be a willing partner but all good cat caregivers are. They allow their cat to train them. Basic cat-on-human training is when the cat meows at their human caregiver at a certain time of the day and the human understands that it is time to feed their cat. They leap into action 👍. This kind of fluid, informal training between person and companion animal is the bedrock of the relationship combined with habits, routines and rhythms.
We all know that dogs can be trained more readily because they are pack animals and they look to their leader i.e. the human caregiver, to lead them which makes them more receptive to being trained. Domestic cats are essentially solitary although over 10,000 years of domestication they have become quite a sociable animal. It is a misconception to believe that domestic cats are solitary like their wild cat ancestor. There is that element inside of them which makes them solitary but they live with us. That, in itself, is evidence that they are not solitary but sociable. The relationship lends itself to both parties being trained by the other informally.