is my puppy abnormally smart or what? :D

[tinychicky]

at sixteen weeks my black lab pup knows sit, down, stay, come, wait, he sort of knows leave it, beg, paw (with both paws), high five (both paws), we're working on give it, and i'm teaching him to catch food if i throw it which is more of a coordination thing i guess, but still. i started teaching him when i got him at 12 weeks old. anyway, is that normal for him to learn so quickly or do i have an exceptional dog

this is my first dog so i'm not sure

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

1. You picked an AWESOME first breed! Kudos to you!!

2. Labs are brilliant, just brilliant. Some, more brilliant than others. Others, well...sit licking the cabinet doors after you've polished them.

Keep up the training! It will be invaluable to you some day!

 

[Beekissed]

No...and yes...you have a typical Lab! They are brilliantly smart dogs who are easy to train. Here's a little cautionary tip, though. I trained my last Lab pup for the whole "high five" trick and found out much later that this isn't necessarily a good one to teach. When they get excited about performing their trick, they will high five a little inaccurately and get you with those nails....ouch!

Every Lab I've had trained that easily and continued to be easy to train throughout their adult lives, which puts to rest the old adage about teaching an old dog new tricks. As a matter of fact, I plan to take time to train my 5 year old Lab/BC mix dog some herding techniques this winter. Partly because I'll finally have time and partly because he no longer has any livestock to guard and needs some work to do.

 

[willowbranchfarm]

My dog jumps in the air when ever I throw food. He's a lab mix. Luv those tricks and he is really smart.

 

[CupOJoe42]

I had an awesome black lab that never had to be on a leash his entire life! If you showed him a trick (only once), he remembered it. That dog went everywhere with me. Sadly, he had to be put down at 16 months of age for severe anemia and chronic kidney disease. I even took him to the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan to see if they could save him, but they couldn't and recommended he be put down. I still miss him!!

 

[tinychicky]

cool, thanks everyone. a lab was actually not my first choice (i was leaning toward a german shepard) but i'm glad i went with one! while i have this thread, if anyone wants to suggest a name, we could use one. with five people in my family, we can't seem to agree on one! i'll post a picture later, but my brother needs the computer for homework now. why he can't use one of the other four computers is beyond me

dobieslady, i'm so sorry you had to put your dog down so young :'( hugs

:

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I've always been partial to the name of "Thor" for black animals.

My lab's name was Thunder. I miss that dog..

 

[dainerra]

when he gets a few months older, he'll "forget" everything he knows.
Then, one day, you will wake up and he's back to his usual obedient self.

rodriguezpoultry, I had one of those labs. he was obedient, but dumb as a box of rocks. Honestly, he pretty much turned me off of the breed all together. I like their obedience, but found most of them very lacking in problem solving ability. I like a smart dog that makes you earn his obedience.

 

[urban escapee]

I have a chiapit (chiahuahua/pit) that is the same way, got him at about 7weeks and within 2 weeks he was sitting, shaking and talking on command. I swear that dog thinks he is human.

watch him here

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Quote:
Lol! I had Thunder first, got me hooked. Then I got Marley. Oh Marley...haha. Acts like he's stupid, but the wheels are constantly turning in there.