Thought to do a little update on Boyo – a bit of that miscellaneous stuff that I discover over time, and that can be fun to gossip about. Like, for example, that he's a carpet thief. He's tough on carrots, Min Boyo. I think he's the type of dog you can't leave alone in the kitchen if there's food on any kitchen counter, on the stove or similar.
Although I think that I will devote most of this post to the fact that Boyo is a German Shepherd, but still very different from Ella (although very similar in some ways, to my great surprise).
One of them the biggest differences between Ella and Boyo is their intelligence. That Ella was smart as hell is not intended to surprise. If you are raised by the Armed Forces, you are, and then you have the genes for high intelligence. But her intelligence looked a certain way, and given that she was not only damn smart but also always wanted to move forward, there wasn't a sigh in hell that I would make it. Already when she was a puppy, this was extremely noticeable, and I remember the time she learned “his” and sat and waited for the next thing, then the next, and the next again. She kind of wanted to do things even then, how small she was.
As untrained and ignorant private person you don't have the capacity to do anything with that kind of intelligence. You don't have time to join the drive. Now I've had Ella for ten years, so I've learned a little bit. Men Boyo, he is completely different. He is so different that I have experienced him as really stupid, actually.
But I'm starting realize that he is probably not stupid. He might even be reasonably intelligent. Just that his intelligence is slower and more cautious than Ella's.
Sounds like it makes sense?
There are benefits with this. The largest, I think, is that his intelligence level is normal and I therefore have the opportunity to actually catch up. I can even challenge him. And the fact is that even though I'm not interested in training dogs like that in general, I still have a German Shepherd and he needs to be activated and mentally challenged. I have no problem with that – especially not since he's on a more normal level than Ella was.
So in the big picture hela känner jag mig för tillfället rätt nöjd med hur saker ligger till, när det gäller just det här. Igår kväll var Lilo (som är hos mig på heltidsinackordering sedan en dryg vecka) iväg på egna äventyr, så jag passade på att ta med Boyo till en lekpark som är lika fantastiska för hundar som för barn. Där fick han hoppa upp i en sån där gigantisk, rund gunga, och hålla balansen medan jag gungade lite. Han fick även för första gången ta sig upp i en klätterställning och leta godis – bland annat gå igenom en tunnel. Han hade skitkul. Jag med. Han kräver lite mer uppmuntran och stöd än Ella gjorde, men så är han en försiktigare hund också.
Lilo's mat has a friend who usually comes by and picks up Lilo for various adventures from time to time. I try to take those opportunities to activate Boyo, because it's hard to activate him the way I want when Lilo is around. She is also not trained alone, so I can't leave her at home to entertain Boyo, so it will be a bit of tinkering to get it working.