Week 2 Day 1 : Puppy Preschool, Parelli Demo, Colonel's Barracks, and time with my Project Dog, Avril

Puppies!!! Happy puppies at that!

All of us interns went to the Puppy Class at the Puppy pre-school. It was so much fun to interact with the puppies. After they learned a few things, the puppies had the chance to socialize and interact with the other puppies, it was just so much fun to watch puppies at play. :)

Here are some photos:

Cute little Hachi

Pretty Olinda!

Pongo!

Later in the morning we all went to the Parelli demo at Horse Haven. The trainer was Linda and she was working with a horse named Fiona. It was amazing to watch. Fiona was just new to the training but the subtle changes in her in just a span of an hour was truly amazing. Linda was able to direct Fiona with a slight change in her body language, and to think Fiona was just starting her training. i would be really curious what it would be like when she has been in training for awhile.

Here are some photos:

Beautiful Fiona

:)

Getting Fiona to push the ball.

Getting Fiona to enter the trailer.

I spent half of my afternoon at Colonel's Barracks, and then half spending time with Avril.

At Colonel's Barracks I got the chance to walk Onyx and Mehitabel. It was my first time walking cats and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It gives me hope that I will be able to do the same thing with one of my cats in the future. :) I'm still on the lookout for a project cat, and hopefully I can get going on that soon. I also got the chance to meet some of the cats, I don't remember some of their names, so I am hoping I can get to know some of them in the future.

Walking Onyx was quite an experience, she loves to walk, and she loves to roll, she was reddish black once we got done walking because she was just rolling around in the dirt a lot. Now walking Mehitabel is a totally different story. she had a different type of harness on and she was still new to walking so she pretty much stayed sitting for the most part, and the other part she spent trying to get the harness off. She is quite the sweetheart though and her tail is just gorgeous and something I haven't seen on a cat.

Onyx contemplating where to go.

Off we go!

Brave Onyx went ahead and walked through the snow.

Dig, dig, dig...

...and roll around on the dirt.

Onyx and I post-walk.

The only picture of Mehitabel I got to take outside with her harness on.

Isn't she just gorgeous?

Mmm, baby food.

Mehitabel and I, post baby food and um, walk. ;)

Here are the some of the other cats I met today:

Eddie

Joni

Sashi

Patricia

Yogi Bear

Winslow

After spending half my afternoon at Colonel's, it was time to have some time and training with Avril. I took her to Angel's Landing, where we worked on her loose leash walking and focus exercise, as well as trying(key word) to get her to walk on my left side(she prefers walking on my right side). We also worked on "let's go", and I am glad that she was listening to me more and had a better grasp of the training.

She was still pulling, but at least she is doing much better now.

View from Angels Landing

Avril is such a cutie.

Car ride back to the Garden

When we got back to the Garden, I also got the chance to meet Azure. Isn't she a sweetheart?

Azure is so gorgeous.

Tomorrow it is back to pigs and then CalMar in the afternoon. Pigs and cats, can't ask for a better day. :)

Volunteering at Pigs :)

Have I mentioned how awesome pigs are yet? :)

I spent the afternoon volunteering at Piggy Paradise and I had a wonderful time. I got to spend some time with my informal project pig, Panda. I read to him and he was walking back and forth in his enclosure and then every now and then he came near me to listen. Hazel, his next door neighbor on the other hand seemed to have used that opportunity to use my storytelling as her bedtime story. :)

Panda inching closer...

... and closer. Yay!

Hazel: Zzzzzzzz...

I also had the chance to walk Jeffrey and Cherry. They are awesome pigs, not to mention that the awesome thing about walking the pigs is that one can also admire the horses while doing so. :)

Walking Jeffery.

Such a handsome pig.

Cherry is a pretty pig. Awesome walking companion too.

:)

After their walks, I got the chance to help with their feeding.

Scarlet Lilly waiting on dinner.

Panda is waiting too.

Jezebelle snoozing before dinner.

Arnold is also patiently awaiting dinner.

Squeaky before we start giving his dinner

Squeaky enjoying his dinner.

Om nom nom nom nom nom.

Then as it was almost close to me leaving I decided to spend a a few more minutes with Panda. Funny thing was that I was taking pictures of him and I was asking him to smile, and this was the sequence of photos:

Panda is about to smile.

Are you gonna smile?

Panda is cheezin! :)

Not bad for my first day working with Panda, methinks. :) I'm looking forward to working with him again this week.

Looking forward to week 2 of my internship and all it has to offer. :)