That Bad Dog

Thought I'd written the last dog blog. That was until tonight. The story:

George went fishing today, and got home late and exhausted. Fell asleep in his chair and we didn't start eating until after 7:30. They got Dungeness Crab, halibut and pink salmon today, so we had fresh cracked crab for supper. Of course that takes some time to eat. By the time we were done, it didn't look feasible for me to clean the kitchen, walk the dog, write the blog, and still get to bed at a reasonable hour, so George offered to walk the dogs sequentially.

They had other ideas in mind, however. George went to the back yard and put Marley on his leash to take him first, and leave Sandee for second. However, when George opened the gate a crack for Marley to get out, both dogs stormed the gate, knocking George into the gate post, and lunging for freedom. Since Sandee had no leash, he was quickly gone--vanished, who knows which way in the tall grass.

Marley, on the leash, was brought to a halt, and George looped the handle of the leash over the gate post, closed the gate (with Marley outside the yard), and went to get me to help find Sandee. Leaving the leash over the gate post works fine for Sandee--but Marley thought this would be a good time to jump over the fence! He did so, and amazingly the leash didn't come off the post. His paw came up under the latch, releasing the gate, which swung open just as he reached the top of it! When he landed, part of the leash, still looped around the post, wrapped around his hind quarters, effectively immobilizing him. And there he stood, inside the yard with the gate open, but unable to escape!

About that time, Sandee remembered that after a walk he gets a meal, and by golly it was supper time. So he returned to the yard, walked inside, and up on the porch to see when dinner would be served! He was gone less than 5 minutes. George saw what had happened, retrieved Marley, shut the gate and let Sandee inside for supper. No walk for Sandee tonight. Runaways don't get extra positive attention.

After tying Marley back up in the back yard, George had to go and retrieve me! I hadn't seen all this unfold, and was still wandering toward the church, leash in hand, looking through the long grass for a flash of brown.



George and Marley are now on their walk (actually, Marley is dragging George around the block), and I'm at the church writing this blog. It's 10:45 at night--so much for getting to bed at a reasonable hour!

Just when you think you have it figured out . . . !