WheatenLover
Senior Member
- Location
- Georgia
My dog, Aidan, is a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. He is 10.66 years old, and still acts like a young dog. This is typical of the breed. These are the odd things he can do. These things inspired me to register him with the AKC name of Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast (from Alice in Wonderland). He is a happy, loving dog who is never boring.
1. He can move drinking glasses, bowls, plates, and smaller pots from any surface he can reach, when they are full of solid food or liquid. He places these items on the floor without spilling, and then eats or drinks them -- until he is caught. Unfortunately, he has perfected the art of the stretch, so he can reach nearly anything he wants.
2. He can unlatch his seatbelt in under a minute. He has a crash-tested harness for riding in the car. I found a seat belt latch cover at Chewy that I hope works for him. I would get a crash-tested crate for the car, but I cannot afford one.
3. He could get out of 7 different harnesses before I found one at Ruffwear that he could not get out of. I took him to the vet with the first 7 harnesses to prove to her that he could really get out of them. She was amazed. If I'd known this in time, I would have named him Houdini.
4. If he sees a cat, he will break the leash to get to it. I went through a lot of leashes, including a heavy chain link one. I ended up buying 2 leashes that are made of mountain climbing rope and designed for strong dogs like Pit Bulls. We still have and use those leashes years later. No cats were harmed. He was always wearing the Ruffwear harness and I grabbed the handle.
5. Birds fly too low, and he leaps in the air and catches them. They die instantly. So far, he's killed 4 of them. I love wild birds, so I don't like this behavior.
6. He opens the exam room door at the vet's office and escapes so he can socialize with the animals in the waiting room. I have never seen this, because I have cancer and can't take him. He started this with my daughter. She guards the door, while he jumps in her lap and tries to get it open. Granted the handle is a lever. But no other dogs that come to our vet do this.
7. He can open any locked trashcan. Even the simplehuman ones. He grabs a corner and shakes the can until it unlocks.
8. He can eat 2 ribeye steaks (1 lb ea) in 2 minutes. This happened when my sons were unloading the car and I told them to put the bags on the island. They didn't. So he ate the steaks he found in a bag on the floor.
9. When he was an 8-10 lb. puppy, he destroyed my living room furniture while my sons were supposed to be watching him. He took the fabric off a large upholstered armchair. He liked to sleep under the settee, which had a fiber rush seat pan. He destroyed it. In the end, I got all new living room upholstered furniture. Thank goodness!
10. He can open a latched crate while he is inside it.
11. He loves unzipping things and emptying them, especially backpacks.
12. He is in charge of opening all packages that come in the mail.
13. If he finds a pair of shoes lying around, he will hide one of the shoes. He doesn't forget where he hides things, and if anyone walks in the general direction of where he has hidden something, he retrieves it and hides it elsewhere.
14. He can get out of the bathtub even with 2 people holding him. This is the dog who used to shower with everyone when he was a puppy. He behaves beautifully at the groomer, so I pay $90 to have him groomed, mostly so he gets clean. I don't remember bathing him when he was a puppy, so this is my fault. Should have gotten him accustomed to it, but I didn't even think of it. Meanwhile any body of water from puddles to lakes, he's right in the middle of it.
PS He knows 26 commands and is not untrained at all.
1. He can move drinking glasses, bowls, plates, and smaller pots from any surface he can reach, when they are full of solid food or liquid. He places these items on the floor without spilling, and then eats or drinks them -- until he is caught. Unfortunately, he has perfected the art of the stretch, so he can reach nearly anything he wants.
2. He can unlatch his seatbelt in under a minute. He has a crash-tested harness for riding in the car. I found a seat belt latch cover at Chewy that I hope works for him. I would get a crash-tested crate for the car, but I cannot afford one.
3. He could get out of 7 different harnesses before I found one at Ruffwear that he could not get out of. I took him to the vet with the first 7 harnesses to prove to her that he could really get out of them. She was amazed. If I'd known this in time, I would have named him Houdini.
4. If he sees a cat, he will break the leash to get to it. I went through a lot of leashes, including a heavy chain link one. I ended up buying 2 leashes that are made of mountain climbing rope and designed for strong dogs like Pit Bulls. We still have and use those leashes years later. No cats were harmed. He was always wearing the Ruffwear harness and I grabbed the handle.
5. Birds fly too low, and he leaps in the air and catches them. They die instantly. So far, he's killed 4 of them. I love wild birds, so I don't like this behavior.
6. He opens the exam room door at the vet's office and escapes so he can socialize with the animals in the waiting room. I have never seen this, because I have cancer and can't take him. He started this with my daughter. She guards the door, while he jumps in her lap and tries to get it open. Granted the handle is a lever. But no other dogs that come to our vet do this.
7. He can open any locked trashcan. Even the simplehuman ones. He grabs a corner and shakes the can until it unlocks.
8. He can eat 2 ribeye steaks (1 lb ea) in 2 minutes. This happened when my sons were unloading the car and I told them to put the bags on the island. They didn't. So he ate the steaks he found in a bag on the floor.
9. When he was an 8-10 lb. puppy, he destroyed my living room furniture while my sons were supposed to be watching him. He took the fabric off a large upholstered armchair. He liked to sleep under the settee, which had a fiber rush seat pan. He destroyed it. In the end, I got all new living room upholstered furniture. Thank goodness!
10. He can open a latched crate while he is inside it.
11. He loves unzipping things and emptying them, especially backpacks.
12. He is in charge of opening all packages that come in the mail.
13. If he finds a pair of shoes lying around, he will hide one of the shoes. He doesn't forget where he hides things, and if anyone walks in the general direction of where he has hidden something, he retrieves it and hides it elsewhere.
14. He can get out of the bathtub even with 2 people holding him. This is the dog who used to shower with everyone when he was a puppy. He behaves beautifully at the groomer, so I pay $90 to have him groomed, mostly so he gets clean. I don't remember bathing him when he was a puppy, so this is my fault. Should have gotten him accustomed to it, but I didn't even think of it. Meanwhile any body of water from puddles to lakes, he's right in the middle of it.
PS He knows 26 commands and is not untrained at all.