Now I don’t mean to cause mass panic, but I feel like I’ve finally done it. I’ve found the goodest doggos and can probably now hang up my hat when it comes to scouring the internet for cute animal content.
The pooches in question belong to Scottish ambulance technician Kaylee Garrick, and make up the most obedient group of pups you ever did see. While many of us will toil in vain to get our dog to bring us our slippers or roll over, Kaylee, 29, appears to possess a little sprinkling of dog whispering magic.
Comprised of seven Shetland sheepdogs and one Alaskan Klee Kai, this exceedingly well-behaved and intelligent pack of woofs can arrange themselves into formation on command, and can even form the shape of a love heart.
Get yourself acquainted with Kaylee’s staggeringly smart bunch of dogs in the following clip:
Now the dogs are putting their smarts to good use, posing for 12 shots for a special charity calendar, with all money going towards worthy causes.
Kaylee, who lives in Scalloway, Shetland, has used her photography talents to create a beautiful calendar, with a pic for every day of the year. We have autumnal dogs, dogs in wellies and even Peaky Blinders dogs.
All the money raised has gone to ambulance staff charity TASC which helps struggling employees in the service, and Bravehound, a charity that trains therapy dogs to assist war veterans.
And Kaylee has experienced an incredible response, selling out rapidly after shipping calendars all across the world.
Many believe the pics to be too good to be true. But – although the one where the dogs are jumping in front of a rainbow is comprised of two pictures – their skills are very real and mightily impressive.
Kaylee told UNILAD:
People don’t believe me that the dogs are actually posed the way they are. They think they’re completely photoshopped. Admittedly, the ones where they’re jumping TOTALLY are (they would have banged into each other if that had been real).
I use a ‘positive reinforcement’ technique. Basically, anything I want a dog to do I reward the behaviour that I want to see. Over time the dog associates doing what I want them to (i.e. posing) with the reward and will do it automatically when I want.
I used this to teach Fenton how to do CPR on a dummy. Look up ‘Don’t PAWS, Start CPR‘ for a laugh.
Kaylee was also keen to let UNILAD readers know that the recent behaviour exhibited by dog trainer Jeff Gellman was ‘cruel and awful’.
Gellman’s shocking training techniques went viral after a video emerged of him hitting a dog as punishment, causing it to cry out.
Kaylee told UNILAD:
My dogs are living proof that kindness through training wins over the outdated ‘dominance theory’ every time.
In all seriousness, we need a loose sequel to Calendar Girls, entitled Calendar Dogs, which follows the photogenic adventures of these adorable dog friends.
Find out more about what is potentially the best calendar of all time here.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.