It looks like winter may finally be arriving later this week, so I decided to take advantage of our weirdly dry and warm weather to head up to Sunol yesterday.
Someone was wholly uncooperative in the posing department
Apparently had other things on her mind
Bella?
In the mood for smiling
We were stopped on the trail while we waited for Kate to poop for the umpteenth time and a guy and his dog came up behind us. He had a terrier. I think it was a Kerry Blue. Good looking dog, very light, though. Silvery looking. I didn’t know they came in that color. Anywho, the guy sees Kate and Bella and yells up the hill, “Are they OK or are they going to jump on him?” My first reaction was to laugh, because I was thinking the same thing about his dog. I have hard time reading dogs that are built like that because even the friendly ones look like they are challenging just because they are so naturally upright.
The dogs all politely shook hands and we were off. The guy said hi to Kate and Bella. I can’t be the only person that judges people based on my dogs’ reactions to them, can I? Kate went right up to him and let him pet her. Kate is not an overly people-social dog. When she knows you, she loves you, but doesn’t feel the need to be everyone’s best friend like Bella does. Note to self: he must be an alright guy.
As we were walking, he was commenting on the girls. “They’re so people-friendly.” “They’re so polite with other dogs.” “They behave so well.” Of course, it’s nice to hear those things, but you don’t normally hear those things from people who also have well-behaved dogs. It usually comes from people with dogs that are a bit…um…independent? Then he got to the Border Collie thing. That’s why he yelled up the hill. Not because dogs were there…because (alleged) Border Collies were there. He was telling me that his experiences with them have not been good. Nasty with other dogs, not interested in people, fights among family members.
I suppose I could say the same thing about terriers!
It’s funny how our limited experiences shape our opinions of entire groups of things. I know lots of Border Collies, mine included, who are not tolerant of rude dogs. Kate’s worst nightmare is the 80 lb, 10 month old floppy Lab with no boundaries! I wonder how much of his dog’s problems with Border Collies stems from his upright-ness? Border Collies are very visual and very sensitive to body language and movements. A half inch head nod from me is Kate’s queue to go through a door.
Have you noticed that your dogs react differently to differently shaped dogs?
Our last hurdle on our route back to the parking lot was…
Ever been stared at by an unmoving cow? It’s a little weird. They were also right on the trail. And, they had babies. And, even though Miss Kate is completely uninterested in sheep, she is very interested in cows and needs a bit more management when they are that close. She stared at us for a good 5 minutes before deciding we were OK and she could have her afternoon lie down.
Her concern was on the opposite side of the trail.
Could you not just hug it?
And speaking of shapes of dogs...
If you remove the obviously cow part…
It’s an Aussie! :-P
That's a funny looking doggy. It's like a cow, BOL
ReplyDeleteBenny & Lily
I love Sunol.
ReplyDeleteDon't entirely love having to navigate around cattle - we had our fun with them today, but up in Morgan Territory.
I don't know about dog 'shapes' but I do know that the hunting breeds seem to want to bound over with a "Hi! My name is xxxx!" right in the other dog's face, and none of my border collies appreciate that. Even my most well behaved will at least turn her face away with a look that says "rude!" I always say that the herding breeds have a bigger personal bubble that you must be invited to enter.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, I asked all my herding friends if their dogs react to a little bedlington terrier that we see at agility on occasion, and they all said no; so movement and/or smell must have something to do with it...
Some years ago I was at Sunol with my cattle dog mix. There was a bunch of mother cows and calves on the trail. I leashed up Tater and when we tried to circle around, one cow moved towards us, then she lowered her head, then she started pawing at the ground and advancing. I dropped the leash and let Tater do what a cattle dog should do. He moved that cow back to the group and we left. I since learned elsewhere that cows can be quite aggressive in Sunol.
ReplyDeleteHow many ticks did you find on the girls?
I have yet to have any Mad Cow issues at Sunol. I think it's funny that they say on the ebparks website that you should get the ear tag number and report aggro cows. Um, if we are getting charged, I don't think I'm going to try getting close enough to get an ear tag number!
ReplyDeleteAnd, no ticks at all! Having dogs that tend to stay on the trail + a smidge of frontline spray seems to do the trick!
Hear, hear, about sporting breed puppies (and many adults as well). They've long been my and all my Dobermans' pet peeves. The owners usually call out "Don't worry, my dog's friendly!" as their unleashed and uncontrolled dog rushes mine with all the finesse of a freight train. I've taken to cheerfully calling back "Mine's not!" as I maneuver between my leashed dog and their galoot for as long as it takes the owner to come and get the dog, since said dog doesn't have a recall. sigh.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, it isn't that their dog is friendly and mine isn't; their dog is rude and invades my dog's space as he's minding his own business next to me.