Sunday, March 7, 2010

Bee Find

Thank you for all your comments after our CGC test. They all helped me to regroup and start to move on. I am glad that Kona showed me her reactive side towards someone who didn't think twice about her snapping. I'm now going to be more proactive about keeping her away from strangers. I often let her approach people on the trail because I didn't want her to feel like I was correcting her curiosity by pulling her away. Last week, before she snapped, she showed me all the body language she shows when strangers on the trail try to pet her. During the test, other factors had her stress level especially high, but seeing her show signs I'm familiar with let me know I can't let strangers put a hand towards her. It was a good lesson to learn in that environment.

Moving on!

Yesterday, Kona and I got up early to run from the rain. The sky threatened to open, so we took off quickly.
It was going to be an exploration morning. Kona was allowed to explore where ever she wanted. I hoped to keep everything fun and low key after a tough couple days. Kona welcomed the room to explore. She glued her nose to the ground while I watched a hawk fly overhead.
Kona would pause to look downslope, but only long enough to find something to pounce, or to take off for the next worthy scent-trail.

As I dashed around on her leash, I noticed something tucked off-trail. I caught Kona's attention and we scurried over to see what it was.Bees! Or at least bee boxes. These are the second set of boxes we've found on our runs. The second homemade batch sits on our Ridge. Kona checked out one of the boxes while I put my ear up to another.

No sound.

I wondered for a second if they were really bee boxes, or if perhaps they had just never held a colony. As we continued to poke around, I found evidence of old residents.
I was excited about our find, but Kona was ready to move on! I followed Kona up coyote trails and zig-zagged through sage brush. We covered significantly less distance during the time we were out, but Kona was in her element.

On our way out, we ran into the six pack (of dogs), who merged to join three others. Kona and I found ourselves swimming through nine canines. We know these two groups, and they are all friendly and relatively mellow. Kona seemed annoyed that she couldn't pummel the dobbie who threw play bows and jumps her way.

Just after we made it to the car, the first drops started to fall. The rain didn't catch us.

4 comments:

Sara said...

It sounds like you've done a lot of thinking, and then went out and got some much needed stress relief for both you & Kona.

Seems to me you turned what you initially perceived as a negative event into something positive. Now, you will know how to better handle situations in the future, that will make it a less stressful for everyone.


Sometimes I feel as though our dogs are training us. Good for you for listening to your dog.

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

Wow, I would have hated running into a pack of six dogs, Kona must be really good with dogs. Those bee boxes look neat, too bad Kona was not more impressed ;-D

Dawn said...

Sounds like a great run to me. Lovely place to run! I've come over from Sara's blog..nice to meet you!
-Dawn (and Katie the sheltie dog)

KB said...

I'm glad that you took something useful and positive from that test. While it seems like you're doing an amazing job with Kona, I found myself wondering if you've found a behaviorist who can directly address some of her fear issues. That's not meant to be a slam whatsoever... rather - it just reflects my experience that I learn something new (and frequently very important) whenever I have solo time with my behaviorist/trainer, despite the fact that I've worked with her for 6 years.

It sounds like you did the perfect outing for both you and Kona today. Low key, fun, and happy!