157. VIDEO: Going postal

Today I introduce Gus to a brand-new trick: pull open the mailbox door, place an envelope in it, shut the door, and raise the little red flag on the side.  It’s a common dog (and squirrel?) trick, so I have every confidence that Gus can master it in no time.  Like his push-the-baby-carriage-then-remove-the-toy-and-carry-it-onto-the-pedestal-then-wave-it-up-and-down, this one is a chain of several behaviors.  But this one doesn’t include any previously established tricks like the pedestal and the waving of objects.  This one requires finer motor skills too.  So we start small.

First I show him the main prop, a big, metal rural mailbox.  He immediately sniffs it and shoves it and bites its edges and pokes his nose inside it . . .  I half-open the door, and when he happens to nudge it, I click and treat.  It only takes a handful of times before he realizes that pushing the door closed is a trick.  In fact, he seems to catch on immediately that a hard nose-bop will slam it shut with a nice bang, so he’s extra-fascinated and doesn’t want me to put it aside.  

But that’s all for today.  Soon enough we’ll move on to the more technical maneuvers, like tugging the shoelace that I attached to the door-tab for ease of opening.  Then there’s poking a letter (or a rolled-up newspaper might be easier?) inside and leaving it there.  And smooshing the little red flag upward along the side wall of the mailbox might be the toughest manipulation of all.  Never fear:  there’s nothing on God’s green earth that Gus won't be able to learn.