Say What?

The dog days of summer continue on at the ole ranchette. Remi and Donk spend most of their time hanging out at the barn under the mist system and fans happily munching hay and being bored.

Both of them are delighted when we come to the barn to do chores. It gives them something to do, like aggravate us and get in our way. If we go to the feed stall to fill a hay bag, we have to shut the gate, or they will both walk right in.

The other day, they took their positions right outside the gate as I set about refilling their hay bag. I threw the chain over the gate to keep them out and I swear I saw Remi nudge Donk, who then proceeded to push on the gate to try and open it.

When that didn't work, Donk started yanking on the towel that was looped through the gate, while Remi kept a close eye on the situation. "Ok, pushing it didn't work, let's try pulling it".

I stopped what I was doing, walked to the gate and had a little talk with the both of them. Now this has to be a good comedy show for anyone watching, because neither one of them understands anything I'm saying. They're hearing Blah, blah, blah, blah, which translates to keep standing there and annoy the human.

Ok, hay bag is filled, it's time to clean the stalls. Because the hay bag is hung right in front of Donk's gate, it makes it a little difficult to get in and out. Now, you might ask, why don't we hang it somewhere else and the answer is, because the fans and mist system work best in that location.

Trainer Mom was in Remi's stall and I was trying to get into Donk's stall. So, I said "let me in Remipup" and he didn't move. C'mon Remi, let me in. Nothing, no movement at all. So then I said, "Move your big honkin' nose out of my way". Of course that didn't work either. Once again, blah, blah, blah, blah...

Then I hear the voice from the other stall "ya know, you might try using a command he knows instead of get your big honkin' nose out of my way." So, it's me who get's the lesson and it's me who can't use the blah blah blah blah to ignore my mistake. Darn it all anyway. She is right though and I can't expect Remi to do what I tell him to do if he doesn't understand what I'm saying.

Of course there are times when I do give him the commands he knows and he turns on the stubborn and ignores me anyway. And then there's Donk who was never taught any commands, doesn't care if he learns any commands and I'll just bet tells Remi how to more effectively ignore us. But that's another story in itself.

So, I'm back to practicing commands in a more stern voice and we'll see how that goes. I know for sure "move ya big donkey" and "get your big honkin' nose out of my way" really don't work because after all, it's just blah blah blah blah to the boys.

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