Dog Disasters

Lucky Snagged on a Rug:

We've had some trouble with our dogs lately.  Our radio fence malfunctioned several weeks ago, so we decided to just unplug it and try to do without it and see how that would work.  Heh.  It went OK for days, but then the dogs eventually figured out that it wouldn't zap them anymore if they got close to the line.  Lucky is good and stays at home, but Maddie is a different story.  

Yesterday, me and Lilly spent the day over at my brother & sister-in-law's house, babysitting my little almost-3-year-old niece Claire, who lives across the road from us.  At one point, we went outside the house and sat on the front porch for a little while to play the ever-rousing, grandma-endorsed game of "Guess the Color of the Car That Will Go By Next".  Well, Maddie and Lucky, who were still across the street at home, heard our voices and started barking and whining, desperate to join us.

The day went on; we eventually went back in the house and had lunch.  Then we played a little while longer, and the next thing I knew, as little Claire was running by one of the living room windows, she sees something outside, stops, looks, points, and says "Who's that dog?"  I got up and looked, and there was Lucky, running down the highway, a truck creeping behind her and honking.  I flew outside to see Lucky run off down the side of the road...chasing after Maddie, who was charging off through the woods to go down to the lake to go swimming.  Uhh!

So we all went out on the porch and called and called for them.  Of course they wouldn't come right away, since they were having too much fun running amok.  A little while later, we noticed both Maddie and Lucky trotting around the yard outside the house panting, and I called them to come up on the porch.  I was hoping they would just stay put and lay down and be good, but then a truck went by, and Maddie, being a dopey uncontrollable Boxer, charged after it.  In all, I witnessed the dogs almost get run over two or three times.

Well, that tore it.  I knew that the only way I could make sure that they wouldn't get run over would be to put them in the house.  Luckily, my brother & sister-in-law's house (which was actually mine & my brother's grandma's old house) has an enclosed "back porch", which houses the washer, dryer, chest freezer, etc.  It's where they keep their own dog, Stella, every night to sleep.

So I wrangled my two galoot dogs into the enclosed back porch so I could make sure they would be safe.  However, I knew better than to leave them alone closed up back there, because Step 1 - They wouldn't shut up whining their @$$es off, wanting to be with me, and Step 2 - if I did leave them alone closed up back there, they would chew up and completely destroy everything they could get their mouths on.  So in addition to babysitting both Lilly and Claire, I also ended up having to dog-sit.  Closely.  Thankfully, at that point in time, both Lilly and Claire had just started napping (which was a completely miraculous thing for Lilly to do), so the babysitting gods must have been smiling down on me.

I scooted a chair from the dining room table onto the back porch where the dogs were, had a seat, and texted Jamie "WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BE HOME?!?", explained to him about the dogs, and told him to "COME GET THEM!!!"

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait too terribly long before Jamie came rolling in.  Of course he conveniently used my car to take the messy, stinky dogs home in, instead of his truck.  >:/  But at least he got them home and put up in their pen so they couldn't escape again.  Crisis averted.

Until today.

Me and Lilly were walking down the driveway on our way to the trampoline.  Lucky was standing down in the yard next to the road, anxiously looking toward the woods.  Maddie was nowhere to be seen.  So I knew what had happened.  The next thing I know, Lucky took off through the woods, obviously after Maddie, who had ran away again to go swimming down at the lake.

So here we go again.  I tried to coax Lucky back up to our house and into the dog pen, but she refused to go because she knew that Maddie was still on the lam.  All silly Lucky would do was just lay flat on her back with her feet sticking up in the air.  So we had to get the leash, but even that wouldn't work.  Jamie ended up having to carry Lucky, the 55 to 60-pound dog up to her pen.

Then we had to go get Maddie.  I had seen her trotting down the highway.  I stayed at the trampoline and continued to call for Maddie, while Jamie got in his truck and drove down the highway, looking for her.  It didn't take long before he found her.  Maddie had heard his truck and came running up to him from her impromptu swim down at the lake.  Of course, Jamie didn't want to haul her wet, stinky @$$ home in his *precious* truck, so I had to walk down the highway, meet them in the middle, and then I had to walk Maddie back home on her leash.  >:{

This whole time that we were trying to wrangle up Maddie, Lucky was locked in the dog pen at home, howling and bellowing her heart out.  I've never heard the like in my life.  Lucky loves Maddie so much, and has to be with her constantly.  And if Lucky knows that Maddie isn't on the premises, Lucky will pitch one heck of a fit and basically cry-howl at the top of her lungs until she gets reunited with Maddie.

Sheesh.

So we got Maddie put safely into the dog pen with Lucky, and put a plastic kiddie pool in there filled with fresh water so Maddie could lay in it (Lucky is terrified of water, and hates it, ever since she fell off a log and splashed down into a stream when she was a puppy).

All I know is that I think that these two will be the last dogs that I will ever have.  They're cute and funny sometimes, but they're a LOT of trouble!

Whew!  :P