There are many things we have purposely taught Cici, but we are amused at the things she has “accidentally” picked up.

She know the basics, sit, lay down, off, ….etc.

We even taught her a few “tricks” like roll over, dance, and play dead.

After reading an article about service dogs I started to think about some other commands. The first command I worked with Cici on was to “leave it.” Of course, with out realizing it I said “ucky” the first few times…so ucky stuck. (She was sniffing a dead bird at the time.) Now I use it for many things, Kleenex, pills, beads,  food toxic to dogs…

When ever I opened the stove, I would ask Cici to back up a few paces and sit. I did this enough times…that now I grab the stove handle and she does it automatically. (Of course as soon as its closed she runs to it to sniff it.)

We use a noise to discipline the cats. It sounds similar to spraying a water bottle (pshhht pshhht.) Cici knows that this means the kitties are being naughty. She starts to growl at them and herds them away from what they are doing.

We didn’t teach her to be the cat nanny, she gladly volunteered. She even runs in to break things up if they get in a tiff. She makes sure the younger cat isn’t hurting our older kitty. (The younger cat is bigger than our old girl and likes to rile her up.)

She has also picked up that we expect her to behave differently around certain people. We have told her many times to be gentle with grandma. Grandma is 87 and has had a hip replacement. We just have to remind her before we see grandma, and she never jumps on her. Everyone else….pogo stick