Cabana, the Award Winning Guard Dog

We were fortunate to be able to spend last weekend at our favorite vacation spot, Seven Oaks Ranch. Cabana and I went there last month, but this time, our whole family went--my husband, both daughters, Cabana and me. My best friend and her husband also joined us, which made the experience even more fun.

One night, we built a campfire and watched the big full moon rise. Cabana has never been by a campfire before, so it took some cajoling to get her to come sit near it. She resisted and pulled her head right out of her collar! I brought an old beach towel out for her to lay on and gave her a big bully stick to chomp on. Of course, that did the trick. I don't think Cabana will think campfires are scary ever again.

Speaking of scary, there was this huge male turkey roaming around. He was so loud and aggressive and had NO fear of humans. If we were sitting out on the porch, he would come over to us, all puffed up, even pecking at our shoes through the deck fence! The owners of the house had told us not to monkey around with him if we saw him, because he has been known to jump 4 feet in the air and try to claw them. So we were a bit nervous and went inside.

But later, we saw the same brash male turkey, followed by 3 females, coming back toward the house. I could see him through the sliding glass door, parading proudly, again with his tail feathers displayed. He came right up to the sliding glass door, gobbling loudly. Cabana came over to see what the commotion was. She saw the turkey through the glass door and growled low. I had NEVER heard her growl for real before, only play growl when playing tug-of-war. She growled again and then let out a big bark. That silly turkey put down all his proud feathers and "hightailed" away up the hill, retreating even faster than his 3 girlfriends. I was amazed and so proud to know Cabana can be a guard dog when we need one.

While there are no awards for growling at turkeys, we did win an award called the Liebster Blog Award. It was given to us by fellow yellow lab, Garth Riley, who is a therapy and reading dog, like Cabana. He is a handsome guy and recently placed in the Mango Minster competition. We voted for him, as did many others, in the Adventure Animals category. Congrats, Garth Riley, and thank you for the award! I hope someday Cabana will be as accomplished as you!

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