Older dog, newer tricks

I've always wondered where that saying comes from... you know the one: You can't teach an old dog new tricks. And just what qualifies has an "old dog"? Clearly this is a false statement, though I suppose it is true that any animal becomes less adaptable and therefore makes it more difficult to learn if they don't keep up with constantly learning new things. I remember a few years ago I tried to teach an elderly family friend how to use his new cell phone. To the younger generations this is such a simple thing it's almost impossible to actually explain how to do it. You turn it on, you dial a number, you hit send... and voila. It's not that different from any cordless landline phone one might already have in their home. But to the older generation, particularly those who have not kept up with new technologies, a cell phone is nothing like a cordless phone. You have to turn it on for one thing. You have to plug it in to charge it. You have to hit a button to make it dial after you key in the phone number. That is NOTHING like a cordless phone. Anyway, it was just something I was thinking about the other day. Regardless, here's a quick video of Summit doing a few of his newer tricks (and a few older tricks that we had kind of let slip by the wayside).

Please excuse the disaster that is our apartment and my hair... I took the video after rolling out of bed and going for our morning walk. That's his breakfast he's working for so the first few tricks he's a little excited about. And when he gets excited he tends to just throw all his tricks at once and then barks at me like "why aren't you giving me food, I did all my tricks!"

Spin and crawl ("be stealthy") are the newest of all the tricks which is why there's still a big lure and lots of mistakes. It kills me to watch the video of him trying to crawl because he's just so awkward at it!