Home, Mr. Stanley, Home
I am working from home today, and about fifteen minutes ago I let the dogs outside. I figured this was fine because I was working at the dining room table, and I can see the dogs in the yard from there.
Mr. Stanley (the Canine Formerly Known as Flacko), soon reappeared at the french doors between the deck and the dining room. He stared plaintively at me.
Stanley has a bad habit of wanting to be outside when he’s inside, and wanting to be inside when he’s out. So I ignored him for a while since I was working on something tricky at the time and couldn’t get up.
Stanley began to paw at the door. I continued to ignore him.
Eventually I got up and opened the french doors to let him in, but only Paco came inside. Apparently Stanley had given up, because no one else was on the deck.
Paco immediately ran to a bed (”Jeezum, lady, you think I want to be out in that heat? Like I’m going to run around in the yard or something?”) and I went back to my work.
A few minutes later, Mina started barking. Mina is big on barking, and will bark at squirrels, birds, neighbors, neighbors’ dogs, and even flies on a slow day. In case the neighbor’s dog had decided to poop on our yard again, I got up and walked outside to check out what was happening.
Uh-oh. Mina was standing in the corner of the yard next to the chicken wire fence, and barking furiously at the chicken wire. She glanced at me when I came onto the deck, and then turned her head and continued barking at the chicken wire.
Given the absence of any animals or people that could be the source of her agitation, I knew immediately what had transpired: Mr. Stanley had broken out.
I walked across the yard and over the chicken wire.
“Stanley?” I called. I had gone less than 10 feet, and just rounded the corner of the garage when Stanley appeared on the driveway. His expression said plainly, “You wouldn’t let me in, so I tried the front door.”
He followed me obediently back around the garage and then hesitated when I climbed over the chicken wire. He glanced at the small gap in the corner of the fence, which Mina was guarding, and then looked at me.
“I’m not pulling up the chicken wire for you,” I told him. “You know how to jump the thing, so jump it.”
Stanley leaped over the fence. Mina stared enviously, and growled just a little bit. Neither Paco nor Mina are capable of jumping, let alone jumping that kind of height, and Stanley’s ability to jump always infuriated them. This was a good thing, because without Mina and Paco on alert for transgressions, it’s likely that Stanley could leisurely tour the neighborhood before we notice his absence.
Posted by: ssjane | May 26, 2006 | 1:25 pm
Posted in: Dogs