As I alluded to yesterday, we took the Presto Dog pack of three Shelties and a tri-color Collie out to a state park yesterday. The trip was uneventful, the weather a bit cold with an overcast sky that thrteatened to deposit snow later that evening, which it obligingly did.

We parked our van and disembarked, all the dogs happy to sniff and smell some new environs and spend some time with their human companions. The park we went to has a small farm where sheep and cows are boarded so we headed over in their direction, once again hopeful that some inner alarm will go off inside the dogs letting 'em know that these animals are to be herded, not that we'd let them do that of course in the park. But, just showing us that they recognized the fact that they're in the mere presence of their charges would be comforting to know.

As we approached the pens where the animals were kept, Dougie the Collie:

...decided he was going to smell the low-hanging branches of some fir trees we were passing. That's where he ran into some trouble...

Putting his elongated snout to the ground, Dougie was revelling in the fact that he was getting some real good scents when all of a sudden a tremendous hissing sound was heard. Dougie jumped back, frightened out of his skin, and there, right ahead of him under the branches, was a huge barn yard cat, standing with its back arched as high as it could go and eyeing Dougie, ready for a fight. Dougie immediately began barking, having been scared almost to death, quite effectively spooked. His actions, of course, acted as a catalyst for the three shelties who immediately began barking and turning in circles. And all the time the cat just sat there, watching the actions of the silly dogs who were, in its estimate, merely rattling their sabres in front of its face. It was a sight to behold, certainly one for the ages.

Since we got the dogs away from the cat quickly and managed to calm them down, we weren't approached & asked to leave the premises. With that thought in mind, we made a quick exit way from the animal pens and retreated to some nature trails where only an experienced tracked would have been able to find us. The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the serene nature trails, visiting with pleasant fellow hikers who occasionally stopped to pet the dogs and all in all enjoying ourselves in our outdoor activities.

And, the ride home was really quite & relaxing. That was because the pack was so tired from the all the walking they fell asleep and slept the whole way back to the den! Later that evening I took a real close look at Dougie and could swear some of his black hair had turned white from fear due to the harrowing experience he had undergone with a big barn yard cat earlier that day.