In Johto, it is said that a Donphan never forgets; in Unova, it is said that a Pidove never remembers. Despite being one of the region's most common birds, and one of the few pokemon to dramatically expand its range as the result of urbanization, Pidove are far from popular among pokemon trainers, largely because of these pokemon's tendency to outright ignore human commands.
Yet although extraordinarily forgetful, Pidove are not stupid. These pokemon combine exceptional eyesight with a sufficient grasp of symbolic representation to engage in reading, and Pidove trainers avoid the problem of making them respond on command by writing down long lists of commands for various situations in advance. These lists are attached to a Pidove's leg in the manner of mail, but Pidove lack a sufficient sense of direction to be used to carry messages to other humans; the recipient of this mail is the Pidove itself. Properly positioned on the leg, Pidove need only a glance to remember which attack to use next. This process is far quicker than asking trainers for a second order, and carries virtually no risk of the Pidove suffering extra attacks. It is, however, a time-consuming process, one which requires the trainer to prepare for every conceivable situation before the match even begins.
Some Pidove trainers learn through this process how to master preparing for pokemon battles, and for this reason Pidove are often given to new trainers as a teaching aid, for knowing as a trainer how to react to every possibility one can develop is the first step to becoming a pokemon master. Others instead become enamored by the process of programming live Pidove, and learn to transfer that skill from pokemon to machines; it is with good reason that Unova has long led the field of computing.