At times, in the winter months, our solar-powered gate opener poops out. Sometimes, there isn’t enough sun to charge it. Sometimes, the bitter cold drains the battery. That means on very rare occasions it’s left open, which means the dogs are stuck inside. On such a day recently, I was busy working in my office … when two dogs ran past my window. I knew mine where in, so even though one dog was clearly black and white, the sight didn’t throw me too much. Indeed, it was Riley (a bc) and Kenai (a husky, possibly husky mix) running past. Thanks to the cold temps, I was fully outfitted in (to borrow a phrase from Elayne over at Days of Speed) Crazy Dog Lady Fashions. So, once again, I found myself trying to gather up dogs and protect them from traffic on the road (which was icy), looking like a total loon.
Picture this: 3 pairs of socks + slippers, sweats, three top layers, and … my bathrobe.
Sexy, I know.
As Riley and Kenai looped around to the front of the house, I made a dash for the front door. Kenai — bless his heart — came right to me, despite how I looked, so I quickly hustled him into our chainlink dog pen.
Riley, however, wanted no part of it and bolted for the road. My begging, my offers of food and toys, my best impression of a non-threatening person, did not help — leaving me a bathrobe-clad crazy women in my own driveway. (A note to our neighbors with binoculars? You are welcome for the morning’s entertainment.)
So, I quick ran back inside and secured my dogs in the basement since you can see the dog pen from our kitchen windows. Then, I left a message for Riley and Kenai’s mom, letting her know they were out and I was on the rescue trail.
I tossed aside my slippers, wrestled on my boots, and squeezed into serious outerwear.
Just as I pop, once again, out my front door, here comes Riley and Kenai’s mom driving up to the house, asking frantically if it was MY dogs trapped in the pond or hers.
You see, Kenai has a bark unlike any dog I’ve ever known. He sounds like a animal being murdered. It’s not really barking or whining. It’s like a yodeling scream. When they first adopted him, he freaked many of us out because we were just sure some dog was being torn to shreds by a predator. I can remember standing on our hill, with my own binoculars, trying desperately to figure out where the screams originated.
In my frantic donning of proper clothes so that I could go after Riley, I did not hear Kenai yodeling from our pen, but his mom could hear him from the firehouse (up the road), where she works. She saw our gate open (which, again, it NEVER is), and worried that he’d fallen in our pond.
Scare aside … I told her the tale of their escape, what a good boy Kenai was for coming to me, and how I’d tried to get Riley too, but he (much like Lilly) is just fearful enough not to come to strangers.
The good news is that Riley went straight home, and (of course) Kenai was safe with me — instead of out on the icy roads.
The next time Kenai decided to escape his well-fenced property he headed our direction. So, last Friday, the dogs were going nuts at the fence as I went out to play fetch with them. And, there was silly Kenai. (Riley stayed home.)
I managed (somehow) to get Ginko to give up the barking in the upper pasture and come inside. Lilly, however, refused to COME. (So much for my impressive recall.) So, I walked up to the gate and let Kenai in. He was jumping, and wiggling, and very happy to see me.
Lilly did her usually bossy thing, which is new to Kenai who is surely not harrassed at home. All the hair on his back stood on end, but he thought racing around with Lilly chasing him was quite fun. For her part, she enjoyed herding someone new … especially someone who stopped dead anytime she went to turn him.
I did my best to let Kenai know he was a good boy and to keep Lilly from being completely obnoxious. After one particularly vigorous romp, they stopped to eat snow.
Then, I gave him a break and put her inside. And, since his mom was worried about the pond, I put him in the dog pen to await her return. He sat in the corner of the pen and looked longingly down the valley at his house. Poor kid.
He stayed with us for a little over an hour before his mom got my message and came to pick him up. Stinker!
It looks like he dug out from below his gate at home. Cold weather means fewer morning runs with his mom, so we’re guessing, Kenai has taken it upon himself to travel a bit. I know that some gate and landscaping improvements were set for the weekend. We haven’t seen him out since, but at least we know, he’ll come to me, and at least we know, he thinks Lilly is kind of funny (despite being a barking-bossy pain).
Perhaps some play dates are in order, but I vote for a warmer day.
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