Auggie meets sheep
I’ve been wanting to get Auggie on sheep for ages, but the timing just hasn’t worked out before. This afternoon I took Auggie to his breeder’s house for agility practice, and after that…
We did it. Just for a few minutes but we did it. Auggie and sheep. And OMG. OMG OMG.
We basically did what is normal to see in an AKC herding instinct test, which is walked him into a small pen and walked him around on lead to see what he thought of the sheep. He marched up to one that was curiously coming over and face-to-face sniffed it, and I thought “oh $&(@, he just thinks it’s something to play with. We’re doomed.”
And then they moved.
And then HE moved.
And his breeder said “okay, let him go now.” And I dropped the lead… and holy cow.
For a split second I was afraid he was going to have too much intensity and might be too mouthy or try to grab wool, but NOPE. He stayed back just enough to keep them moving and never ONCE tried to grab with his mouth (YAY!!) He moved them around us in a circle in the pen and when one broke away to run the other direction, he hesitated for just a second like he wasn’t totally sure which sheep to move… then broke off with it to move it back in with the group.
My smile was probably ridiculously huge. His breeder says next time we’ll get the stick out and try a bit for real, but at least we know the dog doesn’t have a lack of instinct.
I am SO SO SO HAPPY!!!!!
I almost took my camera with me, but I wasn’t positive we would be getting him on sheep, so I didn’t bother… so I have no pics. We actually only went out there today to get our agility lesson in, because Tuesday (when we usually go out there) is going to be really hot, and afterwards we just went ahead and took him in with the sheep. Normally that’s an awful lot to do (and OMG HE IS SO TIRED HAHAHAHAHA! He’s been laying at my feet pretty much all night. I HAVE DEFEATED THE MONSTER!!) but I think J was getting as anxious as I am to see what he would do!
I do want to work on a “stop” command with him that he will do quickly and from a distance, like a lie down, or even simply a FREEZE would do, but I’d rather him lie down. I am half-tempted to train him to immediately drop to the ground if I say “RED LIGHT!!” and release him with “GREEN LIGHT!” Okay maybe a bit more than just half-tempted.
Big Faker
Last night I took Auggie out running with me. When we were almost to the end of the run, I looked at him to make sure he was doing okay and noticed that at some point in the last two minutes he had started limping. “(#$*()@” I thought. ” Can’t have my little guy hurt.” I wasn’t sure what he did but he was definitely limping, so I decided I’d pick him up and carry him the rest of the way home instead of making him walk the remainder of the way and possibly hurt himself more.
So we get inside, I put him down and start taking off his harness so I can take a look at him to try and see what he did… and no sooner did I get the harness off than he leaps away, wiggling and giggling, and runs to go grab a toy to play. Limp? WHAT limp??
)$@*(%ING FAKER.
Well, I say that, but later that night he was licking his front paws. I thought about putting bitter apple spray on them but he wasn’t really chewing them up, so I didn’t. I sort of think I should have, because he threw up three times in the middle of the night last night, and at one point appeared like he threw up some fur, like maybe he’d chew some off his foot. I’m not sure if he licked something nasty off his feet and that’s why he threw up or what. He has no limp this morning either though, and was chasing after a tennis ball like nothing was wrong. So, yeah. Giant faking faker, Auggie. I’m onto you.