not such a beast

there might be a bit of hope for wombat yet. zac had her in the park yesterday afternoon and she was to the full extent of her extendable lead (its 4 m i think). she was right at the front edge of the park not far from the footpath. suddenly a woman and her little poodle appeared on the footpath (there's a carport wall blocking the view from the park onto the footpath). zac panicked because he was so far back from wombat and wombat stiffened (because poodles are scary). the poodle stiffened and did a couple growls and barks. wombat's usual response to an animal in her personal space (which is about 6-10 m) is try and lunge if we're not right next to her patting her and talking softly. zac said after the poodle gave a couple barks wombat turned and ran back to him!!! how good is that? of course the woman was quite scared anyway (earlier this week a small dog was mauled and killed by another dog in melbourne) and quickly crossed the road with her poodle. zac gave wombat a ton of praise and treats when she came over to him (i don't think he actually called her over, she just decided to come). maybe she'll learn to just move away from animals that scare her....