Part 1 Meeting Mr.---or Mrs. Rat for the first time.
I had heard about this activity called a Barn Hunt from my friends who had taken their dogs to do it. It is a simple set up. Lindy, owner of
K9 Fun Zone Indoor Dog Park, has socialized her pet rats to be ok with being in a protective tube that dogs will be finding when hidden about. Well she got really creative and brought in some hay bales and stacked them up in a special area where the dogs would have to climb up and under and through to find the prize, kind of like a real barn in the city! When I first heard about this I worried for the rats but was told by my friend that they are never harmed and that they are Lindy's pets and they are very well taken care of. Great! So I knew I wanted to take the crew to see if they had the instinct to find a rat hidden in some hay.
One of the dogs was a particular rock star in rat hunting. Can you guess from these pictures which one it might have been? The answer will be revealed in another post :)
Getting to know you....
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| Birdie was the first one to meet Rat. Lindy started with Rat in a cage that the dogs could see him better in. I was astounded at how relaxed Rat was and none of this nosy poker dog stuff concerned Rat in the least. Very sweet rat. |
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| Birdie says "hmmmm what is this small animal in here?" |
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| In this picture you can see that the tube Rat will be put into to be hidden is the black thing in Lindy's hand on the left. Rat can be smelled through the end but there is no way Rat can be harmed. I had this image of Rat lying on his back, belly laughing inside the tube, strand of straw between his teeth, watching as the dogs try to figure out a way to get him, all the while being safe inside. lol |
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| Liza's turn to explore what she would ultimately be searching for. |
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| Sierra checks out Rat |
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| Here Rat was in his tube and Sierra is checking him out again. |
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| A blurry picture of Skip checking out Rat. |
Stay tuned for more on the Barn Hunt at K9 Fun Zone!
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