Suki and Luna have been going for walks together for several months and even play together in the big run. Only thing is I usually have someone else walking Luna while I walk Suki. They get along very well and Luna even acts like Suki's mommy, grooming her all the time and putting up with her naughty antics.
Well yesterday I had nobody to walk Luna and they had not been out of their enclosures for a few days, so they were more than ready to go for a walk. I decided to try to walk them both together (I know I'm crazy lol
).
I put Suki's harness on first (which is always a struggle) then carried her over to Luna's cage. I clipped the leash to Luna's collar and let her jump out while I was still holding Suki. I set Suki down and they both did their usual "omg I am sooo happy to see you, where have you been?" noises, wiggles, and groomings. I know many, many people have told me that a bonded female will attack another female but these two love eachother and act like mother and daughter, always grooming eachother when they are together**
Well, the walk began as normal, at a dead run lol. They actually did suprisingly well, listening for the most part
. I had to carry Suki a few times (which I have to do when we walk alone too) and Luna would keep looking up at her like "Hey, what are you doing up there?", it was cute. The only issue I really had was the constant jogging (gee I need to get in shape lol) and Suki's constant stopping and begging to be held. After a while we got into a routine: jog, stop, carry, walk, put down, jog, stop, carry, walk, put down, jog...
Along the way we met two older men and they were very interested in my little girls. I told them all the bad and good things about being owned by a fox and suprisingly I didn't get the whole "those are wild animals and it is cruel to have them..." speech. I told them how foxes have been bred for many year for temperment and they both listened and asked questions and didn't once ridicule me. Suki even let them pet her (which she very rarely does) and after a shy start Luna walked up to them to say hi. Luna then walked back to me and rubbed her face on my leg over and over and over again to let them know that I was hers and not theirs lol she has never done this before except when I am in her cage and she decides that I dont smell enough like her
.
We went on our way again and they both did very well. I am so proud of my little ladies. I will now take them on walks alone regularily now that I know I am not going to be tangled or tripped or torn to pieces. Next time I will try to get picture or maybe a video (I lost my camera...again
)
**In the wild a mother fox will often keep one of her daughter's around to help raise the kits so I don't see this as unusual. Don has two females in one cage with a male and they get along fine, with the dominant female keeping both of them in line (June the gramma is dominent even at 14 years old).
