Beeks and I are on a little road trip today. Brad had to work and so we decided to drive to spend the night with my dad. My mom is visiting her sister in Florida this week so this was a perfect time to take a drive and to spend some quality time together. It isn’t often that Beeks is away from Maxie and I think it is important for him to do some independent traveling and activities. Beeks is very attached to Maxie and looks to him for approval and confidence when he’s in a new situation. I want Beeks to get more confident with being on his own in new situations. We had the chance to practice this today after we arrived at my parent’s house and dad and I decided we should take a drive to the local dog park so Beeker could get a little run in before dinner.
When we arrived at the park there were no other dogs there and my dad asked if I had a ball o throw for Beeks. I did and gave a big ball to dad saying that Beeks doesn’t really go for fetching.
Indeed, he will chase the ball only so far and then run off in another direction. He’s no retriever. Dad threw the ball trying to get Beeker to cooperate but he was much more interested in the new smells and the new environment than fetching a big round ball. Soon a Golden retriever and his owner arrived to step things up a bit. The golden was interested in fetching and went for the ball right away. Beeks went for the golden, trying desperately to get him to play. The golden was focused on the ball, not Beeker. The golden’s owner threw the ball repetedly trying to get Beeker and the golden to play together but instead as the Golden ran for the ball, Beeker crouched like a cattle dog in the field, waiting for the prey to arrive just close enough to jump up and surprise it. This happened repeatedly. This is the first time I have seen Beeker display the cattle dog herding crouch on his own, waiting for the prey to arrive. It was a hoot. There is some instinct inside him for herding, he loves going for Max’s tail, and pulling Max down, and now this instinctual behavior to crouch facing the herd to wait patiently for the exact moment of pouncing. I couldn’t have taught him this. A little while later another dog, just about the same size as Beeker arrived. The dogs looked like a cross between a cattle dog and a Bernese mountain dog. It was an intact male who went around the whole area marking it and claiming everything as its own. Beeker did interact with this dog somewhat more that the Golden and although this dog interacted with Beeker by playing appropriately (sniffing and smelling, and parallel play) it was much more interested in urinating on everything. Beeks got tired of following this dog and walked around on his own. Then the excitement began. A female Greyhound appeared who obviously had some issue (in heat) going because she also urinated constantly. Beeks at first tried to engage with her and the cattle dog /Bernese MD but soon figured out that they were working on a different level than he was and went back to stalking the BMD. I was proud of how Beeker interacted with these dogs, he did engage and yet was not a pest to them. He engaged them and yet he wasn’t persuaded to act like a bully. He was so appropriate and well behaved that when he came and layed down by us we figured that was our hint that he was ready to leave. And so we did. Back at Papa’s house he got fed and watered (boy was he thirsty) and now he’s stretched out by my feet asleep, tired out by his full day. Occasionally he raises his head or gets up to look out the window when he hears a local dog barking, or he’s listen for Max maybe?
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