Taking Territory from the HERD! Muah ha ha

Well that was fun!  I think this is starting to sink in with Rose that I am the leader, not just another lowly member of the herd to fight over pecking order with.  I fed everyone, and had filled my pocket with cookies.  I came in, mosied around a bit, and Spirit and Miyagi were keeping an eye on me.  Snookie and Rose were not.....soooooo.....as the leader......I snuck up and bit her on the butt!  They both took off, and the munchkins stayed put.  I pushed on thier space a teeny bit, and they were off too.  Since they were hungry, they all tried to come back in, and I OWNED all the hay.  I invited them back in, and they scurried around instead.  I tried to approach Rose with her permission, backing off if she looked away.  It was too much pressure so I just went and gave cookies to the munchkins, who were more agreeable to let me approach.  So I had them follow me to the hay, and left the girls out to wallow in thier pitty party.  A minute of that, and they let me aproach, feed a cookie and take them back to the food.

I repeated it again, and this time Rose had her eyes on me, just as in the eye contact rituals.  She she didn't move, I pushed on her space and she and Snookie left, but didn't go to far this time.  I was able to approach quickly, give the treats and invite them back to my hay in a matter of a minute.  NOW, they were both able to FEEL me.  They started to listen to the pressure and understand that if they would just give me that respect....I would back off and not persue the ritual anymore.  Rose became very sweet and even left the hay to come and be with me for a few minutes.  She didn't even frisk me for a cookie.  Maybe she was saying sorry for being such a pill.

I feel the rituals at this time are important for me to do with Rose within the herd because of the Snookie dynamic.  Everyone knows, if you can get Snookie to do something...you are magical!

So that was a couple nights ago, I will try to play with them again tonight.
Savvy On
Michelle