Heidi
01-02-2006, 12:08 AM
Q and I went for a New Years' walk today.
We went into the front yard, nibbled some grass as traffic drove past and she did fine, so we walked alongside the road, across the neighbor's yards towards the woods. Just on the other side of the last neighbor's house that borders the woods, is a trail that goes down to a pond. We have to walk up in the road to get around the bushes that seperate the neighbor-house and the woods.
Traffic was coming and we made it around with plenty of time before the cars came and walked down into the open area where the vehicle trail is, to wait for the traffic to pass. Traffic at that time was two cars, each going in opposite directions, and they passed each other right in front of where we were.
This is where she reared.
She only lifted her feet about 10", but each time I said "No." Not sharply, just a quiet 'no' and I tugged downward on her rope halter lead. She reared three times in a row. On the third rear, I backed her up a few steps. When she stopped, she put her ears up, licked her lips and calmed down. By the time of the second/third rear, the vehicles had already passed us.
When she was rearing, her ears were flicking around, her eyes looked worried and her lips were tight. I do not think she was irritated at me, I know that look, but it does seem she was concerned about the two cars.
On our last walk near the road, the only trouble (mild startle spook) we had was when two cars passed in opposite directions right in front of us.
Was this just an issue of her perhaps feeling she couldn't keep an eye on both cars and was unsure?
Should I not have tugged downward and instead tried to lead her forward or sideways to keep her feet moving?
She was very well behaved the rest of the 'walk' and we even went into a partially cleared place where she had to step over downed logs and I felt she did very good. The only thing I couldn't convince her to do was to cross a shallow ditch, no water, just grass. She did, however, walk down a much steeper embankment to flat grassy ground.
Several hours later, Kenny gave her a treat...she got a 1/4 of an apple pie. She loved it!
Heidi
We went into the front yard, nibbled some grass as traffic drove past and she did fine, so we walked alongside the road, across the neighbor's yards towards the woods. Just on the other side of the last neighbor's house that borders the woods, is a trail that goes down to a pond. We have to walk up in the road to get around the bushes that seperate the neighbor-house and the woods.
Traffic was coming and we made it around with plenty of time before the cars came and walked down into the open area where the vehicle trail is, to wait for the traffic to pass. Traffic at that time was two cars, each going in opposite directions, and they passed each other right in front of where we were.
This is where she reared.
She only lifted her feet about 10", but each time I said "No." Not sharply, just a quiet 'no' and I tugged downward on her rope halter lead. She reared three times in a row. On the third rear, I backed her up a few steps. When she stopped, she put her ears up, licked her lips and calmed down. By the time of the second/third rear, the vehicles had already passed us.
When she was rearing, her ears were flicking around, her eyes looked worried and her lips were tight. I do not think she was irritated at me, I know that look, but it does seem she was concerned about the two cars.
On our last walk near the road, the only trouble (mild startle spook) we had was when two cars passed in opposite directions right in front of us.
Was this just an issue of her perhaps feeling she couldn't keep an eye on both cars and was unsure?
Should I not have tugged downward and instead tried to lead her forward or sideways to keep her feet moving?
She was very well behaved the rest of the 'walk' and we even went into a partially cleared place where she had to step over downed logs and I felt she did very good. The only thing I couldn't convince her to do was to cross a shallow ditch, no water, just grass. She did, however, walk down a much steeper embankment to flat grassy ground.
Several hours later, Kenny gave her a treat...she got a 1/4 of an apple pie. She loved it!
Heidi