Lions, Tigers, and Horses?? Oh, my!

Lions, Tigers, and Horses?? Oh, my! Category: Pets and Animals
Shang got to go with his forever family on Sunday and it was quite an adventure. We met them at a horse show and along for the ride were Shang, Momma Daisy, and brother Fa Zhou. Although the boys hadn't spent much time on-leash, I have to admit they did fantastic. Of course, Daisy setting the example and blazing a trail toward something fun helped!
Her first indication that this was no normal family affair was the huge pile of horse dung she ran into outside the fairground building. WHOA!! The brakes were put on and an inspection was performed that would have made Frank the Pug from MIB very proud! What animal could have made this wonderful stuff that smells good enough to eat?? Or to roll in?? The wonder of it all!
It wasn't too many more minutes before she got to see what this animal was. She was in awe, walking through the barn to get to Shang's family. Then with the excitement of meeting so many people who wanted to pet her, she momentarily forgot the horses. Once things settled down, I lifted her to a stall so she could meet one up front and personal. She was fine till the horse snorted a big breath of air in her direction. Her eyes got really wide and she was pretty much done at that point. Also, somewhere along the line, it occurred to her that her babies were here with these huge beasts and she decided to get a little protective. A horse would walk by her and she would stare silently with big saucer eyes till they got to the end of the row and turned toward the arena. As the tail would swoosh on it's way out of sight, she would give it a big, brave WOOF. That's my girl.
The barn was full of dogs. In our little area we saw an australian shepherd, a border collie, and a beagle. At these, she barked fairly freely, with me trying to correct her. The herding dogs looked at her, recognizing her as a newbie without a clue. But the real kicker was when the border collie ran from his area, past us, outside to do his business, then returned to his place, all without the supervision of a person. She was fixated on him, and kept looking up at me with a questioning look. Why does HE get to run outside without a leash?? I explained this is how GOOD dogs act (hint, hint).
The puppies handled it much better than Mom, taking everything in stride. All these people and cool things to investigate had their little minds totally occupied. Shang went for a walk around the area and handled it like a champ. At least he was smart enough not to bark at the horses, not even a tail swishing out of sight. He did start to get lonely for the pack after we left, but some kids walking by making over him took care of the rough spots. He has settled in with his new family and is enjoying all the cool things in the world out there to discover! We look forward to hearing more about our little flat-faced apricot horse dog.