Flash the Horse Herder

Today is Sunday, the day when normally Dennis does everything and I sit on my but, except for taking care of the kittens (now mostly cats). But this afternoon he went to a community event and I had to put the horses up at night. That meant I had to trade sneakers for my slippers. Rats!

Anyhow, Flash and I trudged down to the barn around 5 o'clock and I saw that Shalla was patiently waiting at her stall door. I warned Flash not to chase her (Flash! NO!) and he reluctantly hovered but did not chase. I opened Shalla's door and she calmly went in. I said to her, "Where's Doc?" because he wasn't hanging around the barn as usual. I walked around to the other side to see if he was there. He wasn't, but I opened his door and started off to hunt him down in the pasture.

As I came around the barn again, I saw him walking toward me some distance away. Then I saw Flash quietly walking behind Doc, bringing him to the barn. I swear when he heard me say "Where's Doc?" he went out to get him. I swear!! Betsy and I have been playing a game every Wednesday when we go to the barn for a riding lesson. Betsy started it and I've been carrying it on. We have dog cookies in the tack room to support this training. We ask Flash "Where's Doc?" and he's supposed to jump up and touch Doc's stall door. Later I started doing the same thing with Shalla. Flash doesn't get it right all the time, but for the most part he touches the correct door and gets a cookie.

So today, while I was astonished to see Flash actually herding Doc back to the barn, I think he was acting on the training we did in the barn. Huh. Who knew?

Here's the proof. I took these with my iphone camera. If you look in the center of the first photo you can just barely see Doc through the trees. The subsequent photos show Flash walking him in all the way to his paddock. (This is so great.)