Week 2, Day 2: Lots of walking!

After a very good night's sleep last night, I felt a little better this morning. My morning shift was in Horse Haven, but that doesn't necessarily mean working with horses. Horse Haven also houses goats and sheep, so that's who I worked with today. I actually really enjoyed getting to work with them, as I haven't had much experience with farm animals. The first thing I did was take the sheep on a walk.

That's Lambert up front and Buddy is following us. Lambert is a bit of a rambunctious guy and likes to headbutt people. So my legs are slightly bruised! Other than that, the walk went quite well. Who would have ever thought I'd have a job that required walking sheep?!

After giving the sheep their exercise, I cleaned out their run. Fun fact: sheep poop looks exactly like blueberries. You'd think, as such a large animal, they'd poop bigger! Next, it was on to the goats next door. I adore the goats. They have such personalities! I especially love Joseph and Emily. Joseph is just so cute because his tongue always sticks out to the side:

Enlarge photo to see the side tongue!

And Emily is just the sweetest little girl you could imagine. She walks right up to everyone seeking attention and petting just like a dog! She is such a love and has wonderful long ears. I just want to snuggle her all day!

Emily the Goat

After cleaning for the goats, and making sure that all the animals had fresh food, water, and bedding, we were done! Two of us interns were working together and it took us nearly 2.5 hours.

I got to rest my legs a little after that because another Parelli demonstration was going on today. I fell so in love with it the last time I saw it, that I wanted to see it again. I learned more new facts this week and also got to see a different horse being worked with. Slurpee was today's horse and she is absolutely stunning! She's 17.2 hands tall! She is a sassy girl, so it was interesting to see how Parelli worked with her personality (or, as I should call it, her horsenality). 

Another cool thing I got to see before leaving Horse Haven was watching the vet team work with Missy, the miniature horse with a broken leg. They were so good with her and were taking x-rays to see how she was healing. Just listening to them talk was so heartwarming because I could tell they cared so much about her and giving her the most optimal recovery, whatever that takes. Best Friends is so amazing like that. Here she is, getting worked on:

After lunch, I headed to my afternoon shift in DogTown, where, by the way, I found my water bottle that I had lost yesterday. Today I was in an area called The Garden and it was quite an active place! The staff were introducing a new dog when I got there, so I sat and talked with one of the dog trainers. Turns out he has a Master's degree in animal behavior! It was so cool to talk to him about the field of animal behavior and what types of work one might expect going into it. 

Next, I did a ton of walking! It was actually only two walks in a row, but it felt like forever. The first girl I walked was the sweetest little thing. We walked with two other dogs (and people) and took a long trail, since they hadn't been out for a walk in a while. I was tired after that walk, but was asked to take another dog on a walk. This walk was not so easy! In the few minutes that I was holding the dog on the leash outside his run (waiting for his companion), he jacked up the muscles in my entire body. I couldn't believe how strong he was and how much he pulled, running from side to side, chasing lizards, and dragging me along. Luckily, I switched dogs once we began the walk, but the other dog on the walk was nearly as difficult. What a workout for me! I was glad to get back to the dog run! Unfortunately, after all of that, my injured right leg (pulled muscle? still not sure) finally caused me start to limp a little. I've been able to walk just fine up until this point, but anything beyond that was impossible. Let's hope resting it will help...

After walking, it was feeding time. I helped prepare the meals for all the dogs and served some of them, along with some volunteers and staff. We had a dog in the kitchen with us "helping" while we prepared the dinners and she was such a sweet little girl. I thought she was a puppy, but I think she's actually about 2 years old. She was just so playful! Her name is Kira:

After feeding, the day was almost over, so I went and socialized a sweetheart of a dog, named Zena, who is absolutely terrified of people. She came from a hoarding situation and has had a rough life. I want so badly for her to be adopted and be able to feel safe with her own forever family where she will get all the attention and care she so deserves. She's just beautiful, but never got close to me. I threw treats out into her run and she took a couple after I was out there for a while, but that's as far as we got today. My heart goes out to her and hopes she finds peace after all she's been through. I'm so glad she found a home at DogTown for now.

Well, that's been my day! I'm exhausted and sore all over (thanks to a head-butting goat and a (friendly) beast of a dog that I walked! Tomorrow, my morning shift is with some special needs cats, which I'm very excited about, and then the afternoon will be all about bunnies! I'm hoping for a less physically demanding day with those two animal populations!