Dogs and Horses
After years of my husband claiming that Labrador Retrievers were the best dog we finally bought one about 3 years ago. My husband wanted a “good dog” as he called it. I just wanted a dog that was good with kids and that could go with me on trails. We ended up buying a beautiful 3 month old black female. She was all puppy. All Lab puppy that is.
It will come to no surprise to Lab owners that our Lab is just now starting to show adult do behavior at almost 3 years old. We were told that Labs take a long to mature and that is exactly what our lab is doing - taking her time maturing. She did turn out to be a great dog for the kids but I have yet to attempt taking her with me on a trail ride. At this point I don’t think she would follow me. She is known for running off so I think I will give it a few months or maybe a year before I try to take her with me on a trail ride.
I can’t wait for the day when I can. I have always wanted to take one of our dogs with me. Our other dogs would probably follow but since they are small dogs I don’t know that they would enjoy it. So my hope is that one of these days I will be able to take my puppy along.
This post was sponsored by Labradoodles. A Labradoodle is a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Standard Poodle. Labradoodles are sociable, friendly, non aggressive, and extremely intuitive. They are very intelligent and highly trainable. The Labradoodles website offers breed information and breeder directory.
- January 4th
We have a 4 year old male Bouvier. He’s a large dog and loves nothing more than “guiding” us on our trail rides. He loves to lead us out, feeling very important, making sure that we are all following him. Of course he doesn’t really determine our route, but he thinks he does.
That’s cool. I wish my dog would do that.
Hello! I used to clean house for a woman who owned horses and a lovely 12-pound Border Terrier named “Celebration”. She rode her horses often out on the trails of Marin County, CA, with “Cellie” as her dog was nicknamed. The dog wore a padded harness and 15-foot long thin leather leash.
The dog and horse were trained to do some pretty amazing things!!! She would ride along the trails, the dog could run free in the woods. When they got to the road, or if a park ranger turned up, she would call to “Cellie”, who would then vault halfway up the side of the horse, into one of her owner’s arms, reaching down. If the owner missed, the dog would take another trip up the side of the horse, like skateboarder!
Then the dog would ride comfortably up on the saddle, or, the owner would snap the long leash on and the dog would happily trot alongside, on her leash, to the delight of all onlookers. When the dog wore her leash the owner would just lift the dog easily up onto the saddle.
It was a great thing to see - of course the horse was totally nonplussed by the dog, the leash, all of it. Really a cool thing I have not thought of in years and your writing reminded me!
By the way I just did a Web site called “HorseJourneys.com” and you should check it out! It has lots of great writing on it.
Thanks and have a great day, Bonnie
What a cool story. I would love to have seen that. It’s not likely my dog or horse will ever agree to that type of situation but wouldn’t it be nice if they did? Thanks for sharing.