We discuss Dawg's chess capabilities. I'd honestly like to teach him the game as I'm very curious how well he'd do; however, I see no practical way to convey the ideas necessary for such an experiment. Without language, abstract concepts are a big challenge. I will continue noodling over the problem as I'd love to have a chess-playing dog. I'd probably need to start by getting a large outdoor board/mat, with large flat two-dimensional pieces like on our travel set. Just teaching him the concept of how different pieces move would take some time.
The game continues into the evening as my strengthening student bakes my noodle with her creativity.
The flash blows out the fire a bit, but what day would be complete without a sitting around the campfire photo? If I can teach Dawg to pick up his toys while I vacuum, pose for pictures, etc., how hard can chess be? ;) Good memory and pattern recognition is important for strong chess play, and Dawg showing that he remembered this area and our camp, river crossing spots, etc., even coming from the opposite direction, gives me a reason to believe he'd do well.
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