Herding dogs
Make no mistake, we are herding dogs. With that come certain behaviours. It is instinctive in our nature to keep our pack together. If you won’t give us our own cows to play with then we will exercise our skills on anything else we can find – usually our humans. Now, we do have these instincts in varying degrees, but even Aristotle would try to keep everyone together. Pebbles has a deeper herding instinct than the rest of us. She is much more like Megan was in that regard. It’s no good pretending that’s not the dog she is. Mum can’t make her different, but instead needs to channel her herding skills and be prepared for them.
Yesterday’s Herding
Yesterday’s herding got a little out of paw. To begin with, Pebbles wailed when Mum wet to pay for parking leaving her with Dad. Then Dad wanted to have Pebbles’ lead. However, Pebbles couldn’t cope without being attached to Mum and was bringing Mum in closer to herself and wrapping the lead around them both. Dad got Mum to walk a little way ahead and Pebbles was just desperate to get to Mum. Then Mum took the lead and Pebbles trotted along by their side perfectly happy again. That wasn’t so bad. It was later things got more difficult.
Café experience
Pebbles went to Grasmere yesterday. She had a lovely walk around and even visited the graveyard where William Wordsworth is buried. Mum got a little concerned when Dad went into the church to have a look and whilst they were waiting, Pebbles started to dig up the graveyard, but I digress. The café was more difficult. Dogs were allowed on the terrace, so Pebbles sat there with Mum and Dad. There were other dogs and she wanted to play, so Mum had to keep her occupied. It wasn’t too bad until Pebbles decided she needed to pee and so simply went where she was. To Mum’s horror the line of pee moved rapidly downhill towards the man at the next table’s bag! That was the point Mum decided to take Pebbles back to the car.
Happy herding
The problem was that Dad hadn’t eaten his lunch. Mum took Pebbles and left Dad behind. Pebbles was not happy – her pack was not together. She did her best to nip at Mum’s legs to get her to turn around and go back. Mum was not happy. Fortunately, Mum carries an emergency chew supply and between that and a constant offering of treats, Mum eventually got a reluctant Pebbles back to the car. Once Dad returned, Pebbles relaxed and everyone was happy again.
Deep water
Pebbles also had a funny moment at Rydal Water. Everywhere she’s gone so far the water has been very shallow. When she went for a walk along a stream yesterday, she jumped in from the stone bank and found the water up to her chest. It took her breath away for a moment, before she shared the water liberally with Mum. It did at least make her a little more wary of rushing in without checking the depth first.
Love and woofs
Wilma
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