I call it “organic training” — those tricks your pets learn without much effort on your part. You don’t have to practice; they just happen.
Moose — my shepherd mix — is great with organic training. I’ll be the first to say that he isn’t the world’s smartest dog. When I first brought him home to foster, he didn’t answer to his name (Coyote)! When I accidentally found a name that he would respond to (Moose), we stuck with that.
He learns well by example. Lally already knew how to sit when Moose joined the family. By watching her, he picked up on the trick. Now he’s often faster to sit than she is — especially if he knows a treat is on the way.
Moose knows two tricks that I didn’t set out to teach him.
The first (and perhaps most important) is “Moosie, move.” I end up using this one almost every night. If Moose happens to get into bed before I do, he’ll often lay right in the middle. More often, I find him sprawled on the pillows! As soon as I say “Moosie, move,” he’ll get up and resettle himself along the wall, towards the foot of the bed (which is his usual sleeping spot).
I didn’t mean to teach him this trick. All I wanted was a share of the bed! But after many nights of pushing Moose out of my spot, he learned the routine.
Moose’s other unintentional trick is giving kisses. This is a dog who loves to lick anyway, so getting a kiss on command is pretty easy. He’s probably going to kiss you whether you ask for it or not! But at some point in the four years that we’ve been together, he learned to associate the phrase “kiss-kiss” with licking.
It just goes to show that there’s a training style that works with every dog, smart or not.