I love that Gary Larson cartoon, where Rex is attempting the tightrope with anxiety; he’s an old dog, and this is a new trick. But learning new tricks is apparently not all that difficult for dogs. Ours has learnt to open an awkward kitchen bin, root around inside, select a promising used can and make off with it into the lounge for some definitive emptying. He’s almost fifteen, deaf and half-blind but he can sniff out an M&S steak-and-gravy tin from three rooms away.
Above, Max practices can selection on a tree limb.
