To Dream of Dogs

[charliechaplinfan]

I'd watch it, Lara is being groomed at the moment, she's submits but would rather be scruffy.

[RedRiver]

I wonder what dogs are thinking when they bolt like that

They're probably not thinking! My belief is, they have every intention of returning home. Running away is the farthest thing from their minds. But look at all that! Open fields. Rabbits. Things to urinate on. It's just too tempting!

[JackFavell]

Hi guys! I'm soooo glad you found Lara (or she found you). That is a heart stopping moment! It's so good when they either come back home or you find them again. Gosh, I hate those situations!

Some years ago, we took in my mother in law's collie when she became too ill to take care of him. At the time, I had just found out that Laddie was deaf, for a long time I just thought he was stubborn, but that's another story. One day, he got out the back screen door which Alice had left open by accident, I couldn't yell at her, she was only two. He disappeared. He had done this at my mother in law's house before, and always came back after running for blocks, turning and laughing at you, only to run again as soon as you tried to follow... he thought it was a game. He'd disappear, then come home about a half hour later, happy as a lark. But now he was in a strange neighborhood.

Anyway, like I said, Alice was two years old. I didn't know what to do. Panicking, I put Alice on the floor with some toys, told her what I was doing and that I'd be back in a minute, and left, my heart pounding. I closed the door behind me, looking both directions down the street, thinking maybe he was only a little way away. Nothing. I ran down to the corner (only 3 houses away) and looked, no Laddie. I looked back, and still no Laddie. Then I realized there was a foundation being dug in the block behind our house. I figured if I were a dog, that's where I'd go. Connecticut is a weird place, having fences and stone walls around each yard. There's no cutting through the neighborhood like where I grew up in Oklahoma. There was a tiny bit of woods in back of our house, but a stone wall and a gully between....no way to get to that section except to go around the block. I ran down the side street as fast as I could, looking everywhere as I ran, figuring that I could get around the block in about than five minutes. I asked the workmen at the foundation dig if they had seen a collie, nope, they hadn't. I was disappointed. I ran on around, desperately thinking that if I did not find him in the next minute or so, I would be forced to let him wander off by himself and possibly be killed in the street, since he couldn't hear any cars coming. I had to get home to Alice.

I was near tears as I ran up the hill and around the corner, back onto my own street. I slowed as I got to the driveway two houses down from mine, and started bawling. thinking about what I would tell my mother in law. As I passed the house next to ours, Laddie walked out from behind their car! I swear he was smiling! I was never so relieved in my life, and I had to laugh - if I'd only gone the other direction, I would have found him immediately. Then I had to figure out how to get ahold of him without him deciding it was the chase game... so I walked away a little, let him follow, and then grabbed him by the collar and led him home. Whew! BTW, Alice was fine too, still sitting on the floor with her toys... what had seemed to me like hours had only been a couple of minutes. I think I probably sweat more in that 5 minutes than I've ever sweated in my life. Laddie was fine. He always looked so happy to see us after these escapades. Like it was all perfectly normal.

[RedRiver]

They do think it's a game. We had a dog when I was a kid. A lot like Shug! She'd run and run until we got too far behind. Then she'd stop and wait for us. Just when we ALMOST caught her...she'd take off again! Laughing all the way. That dog came home when she was good and ready!

[JackFavell]

That's it, Red! Totally. It's so frustrating! But you can't get mad. I found with one dog, that if I sat down with my back turned to him, he'd come right back to me. But this is kind of dangerous in the middle of the road....

[CineMaven]

Wendy your story with Laddie was tense. All that was missing was the wolves nipping at your rear. I thought you were Lillian Gish.

That's it, Red! Totally. It's so frustrating! But you can't get mad. I found with one dog, that if I sat down with my back turned to him, he'd come right back to me...

That works with people too...

[JackFavell]

Ha! I gotta remember, no chasing. Let them come to you....

[CineMaven]

Now you're talking.

[knitwit45]

Only works with dogs...

[JackFavell]

Ha!

[RedRiver]

The similarities are there. I took my girlfriend for a walk and she ran away!

[charliechaplinfan]

It's not the end of Lara's adventures. Her dear Mama who is scatty beyond belief was walking with her to school when she drpped her sunglasses on the floor and broke them, I bent down to pick them up and set off again intent on mending them on my way to school, it was only when I'd gone about 30 yards that I realised I wasn't holding her lead anymore, I'd dropped it when I picked up my glasses. I quickly retraced my steps and she was just sat where I'd left her, she wasn't stressed or making any attempt to move, she was calm and collected and resolute in her attitude that Mum would come back to her. She hadn't been distracted by another dog, that might have been a different story but what a sweet doggy and what a very silly mother.

Wendy I know how devoted my mother in law is to her dog, if that'd been me I'd have behaved the same, never mind the child, I'd have been off chasing the deaf doggy. I bet you had a stiff drink that night

[JackFavell]

It's not the end of Lara's adventures. Her dear Mama who is scatty beyond belief was walking with her to school when she drpped her sunglasses on the floor and broke them, I bent down to pick them up and set off again intent on mending them on my way to school, it was only when I'd gone about 30 yards that I realised I wasn't holding her lead anymore, I'd dropped it when I picked up my glasses. I quickly retraced my steps and she was just sat where I'd left her, she wasn't stressed or making any attempt to move, she was calm and collected and resolute in her attitude that Mum would come back to her. She hadn't been distracted by another dog, that might have been a different story but what a sweet doggy and what a very silly mother.

Wendy I know how devoted my mother in law is to her dog, if that'd been me I'd have behaved the same, never mind the child, I'd have been off chasing the deaf doggy. I bet you had a stiff drink that night

You bet I did!

I totally understand the dropping the leash thing, to fix the sunglasses. Thank goodness it wasn't a baby left on top of the car like in Raising Arizona! Lara was a good girl, I hope she got some praise for sitting right where you left her. I know kids who wouldn't be that smart!

[RedRiver]

Sugar would have hopped a freight train to New Orleans! And thought it was the most normal thing in the world! "What? I wanted to see that jazz place everybody talks about!"

[JackFavell]

That reminds me of one of those old British documentaries that I saw once, all about a particular dog and his whereabouts while his owner was away from home. This was back in the day when dogs could roam around the neighborhood without people getting completely freaked I guess. Anyway, a camera crew followed the dog all day, he hit the butcher shop and the local restaurant where he got some tidbits, saw the neighbors who all gave him attention, wandered down to the pub for a pint, went to the woods and chased some rabbits... it was really a funny thing. The owners had no idea. He also frequently peed on the neighbor's tree. The neighbor kept trying new things to keep the dog from peeing there, but nothing worked.

I tried to find it on youtube but it wasn't there. It was hilarious.