We are parked in a very rural area tonight. When we first pulled in, AJ spied four animals he automatically assumed (yep…) were dogs. He started the excited silent barking and jumping around because he wanted to go see the "dogs." Well, they weren't dogs. They were four very beautiful and large horses. Large even in horse terms.
I didn't figure there would be any harm in allowing him to introduce himself to them, so I took him over on a short lead. The horses were on the other side of a sturdy fence. They were very curious about AJ. All four of them came over to the fence to give him a sniff. It was rather amusing to see my little 26-pound Basenji confronted by four huge horses and him going back and forth sniffing each one's nose in his or her turn. They were all very gentle with him. I think they were more comfortable with his presence than mine, but I never reached for them and I kept AJ on a tight lead. I didn't want to spook them. Anyway, after a while, one of the horses wiggled his upper lip and then snorted, "Pb-b-b-b-b" at AJ the way horses do, which took him off guard and made him jump back a little. The look on his face was something like, "I didn't know anybody could do that!"
I'm kicking myself because I didn't take the camera with me. Durn it...
I know some of you may be upset that I introduced my dog to "strange" horses. Please understand I've been around horses for a lot of my life and carefully watched their reaction as we slowly approached the fence before allowing AJ anywhere near them. Horses are like any other animal: you can usually tell, if you know what to look for, whether they are friendly or not. These four were more curious than anything else. I suppose if they'd had a chance, they would probably have adopted AJ into their herd. Me? They could take me or leave me and could care less either way.
Cheers!