ZOE and BENDER

I took Zoe on a walk a couple of days ago with my friend Jess and her dog Bender, who is an adorable Australian Shepherd. Zoe is somewhat afraid of him, but they are good on walks together... for the most part anyway. Well we decided about half way through our walk that we wanted to take them to a park instead of just walking them around the neighborhood. However, seeing how we are both new to the area, we only knew of one park near by, but it was a few neighborhoods over in the opposite direction. So we turned around and made the trek to the park.

When we got to the park we let the dogs off their leashes and let them run around. At first this was fun, and Zoe sprinted freely through the grass and Bender beside her, but then Bender's sheep herding instincts kicked in and he began to push or rather "herd" Zoe with his nose. She was not ok with this. As she frantically ran to get away she began to make what Kory and I call the Ewok noise to scare him off, which she usually makes when she is either upset or wants to play...

They ran in circles around each other, and I must admit I was impressed with her ability to dash and move so quickly away from Bender. When I realized she probably had enough I went and picked her up and felt just terrible because she was breathing and panting sooo hard. I felt bad after that for allowing it to go on for as long as I did.

After the park we walked back home, I ended up carrying her most of the way back because she was so tired. When we got home she was pooped, and she wouldn't let me put her down. Even in our own house she needed me to be with her. SO here is a picture of me working, with her on my lap, and she was out cold...

And this is a picture of Bender, (stolen from Jess' blog, and yes he just graduated from puppy training)