Too funny! Keeta did a hold&bark on the lawnmower!

Lawnmower is one of Keeta's sworn enemies. They are never allowed to come withing reach of each other, of course. Lawnmower is worthy of her most defensive attention when moving or making lots of noise. Keeta is always tied up well away from the area that I am mowing, as I don't want poor lawnmower to get hurt . Since I have a large property, keeping her at a safe distance is easily accomplished.

Last night I wanted to move Keeta into an area already mowed, so I could move on to the rest of the place. I untied her from the unmowed area, and tied her up to a tree in the mowed area, and went to move the lawnmower. I guess being tied to the tree made Keeta think that she was doing post work, because she squared off with the object of distrust and went into a rhythmic, deep, powerful, bark & hold bark! Not a high-pitched prey bark, not an uneven, growly play bark, but a focused, measured, repetitive, deep-sounding, powerful defensive bark! It was too funny! She never barks at home when I'm around, she defers territory defense to me. But she must have felt that she was expected to do this, given that in training she gets quiet praise and encouragement when set up on the post for bark & hold work.

Well, I had to reward her efforts and I fired up the lawnmower for her. I swear she was smiling and doing a happy dance "Yeah!!! It worked! I got it to react and come to life! I have superpowers!!!"

Afterwards, she lay down on the fresh grass and surveyed her realm majestically. She seemed so satisfied with herself, like she had harnessed the powers of the universe to do her bidding, and make things happen, as she knew they would.

All day I kept hearing that bark, kept seeing the look of joy and smug satisfaction on her face, and glowed with pleasure and satisfaction at how far she has come, how much she has learned.

Part of the mystery as to why Schutzhund is so addictive.