Golden Retriever performing obedience trials.

Of all the things I see dogs do at dog shows one that seems the most amazing to me is all the different tasks they can accomplish during obedience training.

I think part of why it seems so remarkable is because it seems almost unnatural for a dog.

Obedience is all cognition and learning for the dog and human team. In other activities a big part of it is harnessing the dogs natural instincts. But in obedience the dog learns to ignore many of their instincts to hone in on very specific cues to complete a task.

Dogs walking out away form their human to retrieve an object on command and then return with it and present it to their human is one of the impressive tasks the Golden Retriever completed on this day.

One thing I really like seeing during the obedience trails is the interactions between the dogs and their humans. the physical and verbal cues as well as the non task related behaviors.

Photo details: Nikon D500. Nikon 300mm f/4. Focal length 420. ISO 640. 1/2000 sec. f/5.6.