It really is quite amazing how quickly dogs pick up clues to various day to day patterns. A rather annoying habit that quite a lot of Cavaliers have is to bark and get quite excited whenever you are about to take them for a walk. This behaviour is quite natural among all spaniel type breeds as 'going walkies' kicks in to the hunting with the pack instinct, even if it's just you and the dog. You are the pack leader and your dog is the rest of the pack. To try to prevent my dogs from getting too excited I try remain quite casual just prior to putting their leads on, but it astounds me just how quickly they pick up clues. No matter how I vary the times for 'walkies' they can tell simply by what I am wearing. If I walk into the room with stout walking boots they know and react accordingly. Likewise, if they see me in a certain outdoor anorak all hell breaks loose!

It used to amaze me how our dogs would know if we were about to go to a dog show. We'd get up and behave exactly the same way as any other day but they would get quite excited and we just could not understand how they knew. Then one day it dawned on us that each morning we would make a pot of tea but on dog show days we'd also prepare a flask of coffee. It then became obvious that the dogs had started to associate the smell of coffee first thing in the morning with going off to a dog show. Do you have any stories on how your dogs have picked up on things? If so, please do let us know.