Peer pressure. Not just a human problem.
Meet my dogs:
Meet my dogs:
Sirius, a three-year-old Shepherd mix, professional cuddler and party guy. And...
Dobby, a sweet, mellow two-year-old Husky we adopted in September of last year.
Despite his calm, yielding nature, Dobby has one flaw; he loves to run. As in away. While Sirius is kind of crazy, he's never run off, even before we had a fenced-in backyard.
A few weeks ago, I let the dogs out before work, fixed their breakfast, went back out to fetch them--and found the yard empty, gate swinging open.
I know that, without Dobby's encouragement, Sirius would never have left the yard, especially when he could hear the delicious sound of kibble being poured into his bowl inside. But he saw Dobby slip through the gate, and, well, adventure beckoned.
I woke my husband, and we raced through the pitch-black streets at five a.m., following the dog tracks through the snow. I ran back to get the car so I could cover more ground, and left M to search on foot while I drove up and down the neighborhood.
No luck, so I returned to the house to regroup with my husband, just as he burst out and almost knocked me over.
"Got...Dobby," he panted. "Sirius...on railroad bridge."
M had found Dobby a few moments after I left him, but there was no sign of Sirius. He was trudging home with Dobby when he happened to look up, and saw the silhouette of a large animal standing smack in the middle of the railroad bridge, twenty feet above the ground. Apparently, Sirius, following his brother on this new adventure, climbed up the hill and started across the bridge, only to freeze in fear when he realized he could see the very far-away ground in the large spaces between the ties. He refused to budge, and M, without leashes and with Dobby in hand, was forced to run the block and a half home while Sirius cried after him.
We sprinted back to the bridge, and sure enough, Sirius was still there, crying and wagging his tail pathetically, hopelessly stuck. No amount of coaxing could get him down; M finally had to climb the hill, go out onto the bridge, pick up our 70 lb dog, and carry him off.
As much as I wanted to kill him, I felt for the poor dog. He's that kid we all either knew or were growing up, the kid who gets roped into his friends' schemes, but ends up being the only one to get in trouble.
Oh, and if you would happen to see an engineer's hat for a dog, drop me a line. This kind of adventure deserves a souvenir.
Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity
, a YA fantasy book. Click to buy from Amazon!
Despite his calm, yielding nature, Dobby has one flaw; he loves to run. As in away. While Sirius is kind of crazy, he's never run off, even before we had a fenced-in backyard.
A few weeks ago, I let the dogs out before work, fixed their breakfast, went back out to fetch them--and found the yard empty, gate swinging open.
I know that, without Dobby's encouragement, Sirius would never have left the yard, especially when he could hear the delicious sound of kibble being poured into his bowl inside. But he saw Dobby slip through the gate, and, well, adventure beckoned.
I woke my husband, and we raced through the pitch-black streets at five a.m., following the dog tracks through the snow. I ran back to get the car so I could cover more ground, and left M to search on foot while I drove up and down the neighborhood.
No luck, so I returned to the house to regroup with my husband, just as he burst out and almost knocked me over.
"Got...Dobby," he panted. "Sirius...on railroad bridge."
M had found Dobby a few moments after I left him, but there was no sign of Sirius. He was trudging home with Dobby when he happened to look up, and saw the silhouette of a large animal standing smack in the middle of the railroad bridge, twenty feet above the ground. Apparently, Sirius, following his brother on this new adventure, climbed up the hill and started across the bridge, only to freeze in fear when he realized he could see the very far-away ground in the large spaces between the ties. He refused to budge, and M, without leashes and with Dobby in hand, was forced to run the block and a half home while Sirius cried after him.
We sprinted back to the bridge, and sure enough, Sirius was still there, crying and wagging his tail pathetically, hopelessly stuck. No amount of coaxing could get him down; M finally had to climb the hill, go out onto the bridge, pick up our 70 lb dog, and carry him off.
As much as I wanted to kill him, I felt for the poor dog. He's that kid we all either knew or were growing up, the kid who gets roped into his friends' schemes, but ends up being the only one to get in trouble.
Oh, and if you would happen to see an engineer's hat for a dog, drop me a line. This kind of adventure deserves a souvenir.
Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity
, a YA fantasy book. Click to buy from Amazon!
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