I had an interesting conversation with my father last night about what he use to look for in a pup, that would make a good herding dog. He is a farmer from Connemara, Ireland. Dogs worked and were bred for their working ability, there were no pet homes.

He said since his herders often needed to work independently, problem solving was high on his list of criteria. He said he found puppies who naturally used their paws to manipulate their environments, swiping or digging around objects that were stuck or holding a stick down with a paw and holding it in his mouth when littermates would try to take it away turned out to have greater problem solving skills as adults. I had never heard that before I'm curious to see if anyone else had.

YES!!! I like similar things in pups/dogs. I haven't ever thought of it in those terms exactly (the stick thing) but I definitely think it applies to their problem-solving abilities, or at least it seems to in my experience. I have 2 of the smartest puppies I've seen right now, and they both are insane w/their paws. One tries to use them on doorknobs constantly, and one uses them for keeping other dogs away while he's eating or playing w/something. He puts his paw on the offender's head and shoves him/her away. Kind of funny to watch. I also think it has to do with how connected/interested in me they are, and I think they copy my use of my hands. That's how Caleb learned to operate the garage door opener-he watched me, and copied. I would give your Dad benefit of the doubt on this one, because I doubt it's coincidence that these happen to be 2 of the smartest dogs I've ever had. The paw-usage thing just may be connected.

Hi, What a coincidence that you post this just now. I am trying to find some answers on an unrelated topic concerning protection dogs in this thread http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=156550&gonew=1#UNREAD and a member directed me to this one. The pup in question displays the exact behavior that you're talking about. I wonder what the correlation is between this problem solving quality and the temperament qualities suitable for protection.

To give an example of what this pup does; I like it when my dog gives me a good indication of wanting to go outside to eliminate, I prefer the paw scratching the door thing. Usually I encourage this behavior and sometimes have to go as far as training it by scratching and tapping the door myself when I know the dog is ready to go outside, as soon as the dog imitates the behavior the door opens. This pup was actually what I consider a dirty dog, wouldn't stop peeing in the crate. Yet he went from not house trained to house trained virtually overnight and on his own. From one day to the next he was pawing purposefully at the door to be let out to eliminate as if he had done it a thousand times. This was the first indication and had me puzzled but too pleased to concern myself much with it. Since then a myriad of pawing action has arisen such as opening doors on different crates (latch not secured) and pawing at my hand to make me let go of his collar. Who knows what is next to come. The behavior appears to be conducted in a very fast mode, almost hectic. I always considered this sort of thing to be a product of frustration. It appears to be so in this case. Just today for the first time instead of channeling this frustration into pawing he put it into zooming back and forth on leash. For some reason my puppies never develop the jumping up behavior. While frustration will happen to any dog the propensity to channel it into pawing action definitely appears to be genetic. I don't know however what it translates to in an adult.

I thought about this a little more. While I stand by what I said that arrival at a solution to a problem by pawing something can be the culmination of frustration channeled into this movement, I do not think that this is the case with this pup. While the pawing movement are fast there is no prelude of whining or trying to get at something before the pawing finally appears. The pawing is spontaneous and appears purposeful.

Very interesting post...

(Would certainly explain why my smarty-pants Kira has learned how to get into the "dog's room" by sliding over the baby gate. Once in there she can help herself to some kibble...which are like treats to her as she is raw fed...and now she's progressed to trying to let herself through the baby gate and out the back door. She also uses her paws to roll toys under furniture, which she loves to do...she is very intelligent and quick to learn...never thought of a connection)

Interesting Bayley uses her paws alot. She's very quick to grab things on the floor with her paws and invents alot of games. Her recent one is taking a ball to the top of a hill, dropping it and chasing it to the bottom. She bats her bones around with her paws, a sort of bone soccer.