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Flunking Cattle-Guards 101

If a dog is serious about her outdoor-lifestyle, she has to learn how to cross cattle-gates. My first dog, Pancho the miniature poodle, acted wary when he encountered his first cattle-guard. Then he walked right across on his first attempt.

My second dog, Coffee Girl, is a Nervous Nellie, but she was fairly confidant in crossing cattle-guards.

 

I had an easy time with a friend's dog. I don't know if it was his first attempt:
 


So how was
Q.t.𝞹 going to do on her first attempt, this morning. My goodness. She locked up and her feet were unwilling to touch the steel bars. I levitated/dragged her across the cattle guard. At least she didn't do that squeal thing of hers! It was oddly funny.

Still, she does get credit for acting a little curious about the steel bars on her second effort. There is hope.

Of course a dog can usually run around the cattle guardby crawling under a barbed wire fence. She is small enough to do that easily. But that requires training me to let go of the leash!

Comments

Ed said…
Patches was good at crossing cattle guards in her younger years. Now she is very hesitant and does not have the coordination that she once had so makes missteps which makes her even more hesitant.
I haven't tried Erik on any yet but he has a lot of fear of new things so I doubt that he will do very well. I will certainly not try to force him; with him that just makes every thing worse.
Anonymous said…
Here in the Okla. and Texas Panhandles, those are called cattle guards. Don't know why "guards" instead of gates but they are. Cattle won't cross them unless they are blown full of dirt!!
Don in Okla.
Don, yes, I usually use "guard" instead of "gate", so I edited the post.

Ed, I was hoping Coffee Girl would teach Q.t.𝞹 the ropes about crossing the cattle guards, but like Patches, she doesn't care for them in her emeritus years.

I'll bet Erik will turn out to be a whizz kid with cattle guards.