Our dog has a boyfriend, his name is Duke, and he lives at the house behind ours. Our yards are separated by a four-foot high, sturdy, durable fence. I can completely understand our dog's infatuation. Duke is a very handsome springer spaniel, who is a little bit of a free spirit and enjoys chasing birds in his yard. Duke is sure that his owner's tractor is the devil, and he lets out an abundant series of barks any time the tractor turns on. This is apparently a love song to our little pup's ears, and any time she hears Duke's yelps, she starts crying and begs to be let out.
There is no gate in the fence in our back yard, and when we first moved in to our house, my husband would lift our dog over the fence to go play with Duke whenever they were out at the same time. Much to my dismay, this taught our dog that fences aren't meant to keep pups in, but are meant to be jumped. And, because she's a spry little mix of breeds, she can clear the fence without even touching it if she gets a large enough running start. Without a running start, she scrambles over the fence, kind of gets hooked by the elbows and struggles her way over. It has to hurt a little bit, but she apparently thinks that Duke is well worth the pain.
So, this morning, I let our dog out to do her business around 7am (Duke usually doesn't come out until later, so she's not tempted to leap that early in the morning). I got distracted and didn't promptly let her in when her business was completed, so when I went to let her in, she was no longer in the yard. I had to go to drop my son off at day care, so the pup got some extra time to explore the neighborhood. When I got home I started calling for her, figuring she'd be lurking around the house by then, but NO, no sign of her. So, I started doing a marathon walk around our little town to find her. I was walking and calling her name when a good samaritan told me that they saw a little yellow dog on Second Street. I walked up the street calling her and she came FLYING out of someone's yard to me. She was absolutely filthy and exhausted and looked so pleased with herself, I couldn't help but be proud of her.
What I learned from my dog today: when you get a few short hours free from life's restraints, run, play, get dirty, and make the most of every minute of liberation because you never know when those restraints are going to reappear! Who knew that a dog could teach such a great life lesson?
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