The sheep's dad, Warren, came in to work with me and he had a monster Q-tip with him. Well, my mom had had it too, but I didn't know then that it was a monster. He kept swinging it at me when I tried to dive in and bite the sheep. But I was pretty quick, and I wasn't sure exactly what he wanted from me. Even though he lets me work on his sheep, I am still a little nervous around him.
It turns out, I was right to be a little nervous, because when I went to bite the sheep again, he attacked me with the giant Q-tip! [Arthur wasn't really attacked, but he did get bopped with it. -Amy] I was really surprised and scared and I went to the side of the pen away from him to think for a minute. But then he kept talking to me and encouraging me and so I went back to him and the sheep. I was doing pretty good circling around behind them as long as I could go counterclockwise. He wanted me to go clockwise too but I was still not trusting him after he brandished that monster Q-tip at me! I was figuring out that he didn't swing that thing at me as long as I stayed back from the sheep a bit, and also, I was finding that they didn't go so fast when I stayed back off them, either. And that made me want to bite them less.
Warren let me mom come back in to work with me and I was glad. I try really hard to do just what she wants and I really trust her. So when she told me I should try going clockwise, I tried to listen to her and I went around the sheep that way. At first, she had to call me to her and help me go the right way. Then she told me, "Yes! Good job, Arthur!" and that made me really happy and I started to understand more.
By the end of our time, I was able to go way on the outside of those sheep and not go close to them (my mom carried the monster q-tip too, but she didn't brandish it at me, thank goodness.) I wasn't running, either I was trotting nicely, keeping my distance and changing direction when my mom changed hers. It was still harder for me to go clockwise but my mom was really encouraging and I was getting the hang of it. Finally my mom told me to lie down, and I did. She told me what a great job I did, and took me away from those sheep, and the giant monster q-tip.
I'm really tired out after my big day. Mom says I get to go back again soon and that if I can keep acting like I did the second half of the time today, I might be able to work sheep that are closer to home. I hope they don't come with a giant q-tip.
Here I am working with my kind-of-friend Warren:
Here is a picture of why mom says I got to know that monster q-tip so well:
I wasn't the only doggie that got to work on the sheep today. My Auntie Sparkle did too, and they said she was a "natural." My foster sisters Cate and Layne did too. But Layne just wanted to play with mom, she didn't care about the sheep at all! Cate was kinds wild, but she was getting into it too. Warren said, "she's not for the uninitiated!" My Auntie Lynn came with my dogmom Flicka and her foster Fly, too. They were both kinda scared, but they did ok, I guess.
Here's Sparkle:
Here's Fly:
Fly again:
This is Cate watching:
See, I wasn't the only bad dog.
This is probably Fly, but mom isn't totally sure.
It's not me, though!
Mom's got some videos of Cate and Sparkle and Fly uploading so she'll probaby share those as well when they are done. None of my though 'cause nobody else was able to video my mom when she and I were working together.'Kay, I'm gonna take a nap now!
ArthurGOOD!
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