Yesterday was a stressful day with auto shop students, so I was glad to get out of school and do my after-school meal shopping before heading home. This has become my standard where I shop at Fry's for a day or two worth of food before heading home.
I stopped at PetSmart to look at deals and picked up several Kong collars and leashes. Kong still makes the best collars and leashes and Wolfie and Fritz both need new ones. I met Susan there and we chatted a bit, with Susan telling me the detailed story of Allie needing another vet visit for bladder leakage.
I met Susan again at Frys, where I picked up several pasta salads for dinner and the usual chicken legs for the dogs. We agreed to get together at 5:30pm to let my four dogs run on her acreage.
Storm clouds were moving in from the south as I neared home, and it looked like it was raining over Susan's house. I already had Hansel and Sweetie in the truck waiting for the drive to Susan's when she called to cancel the invite because heavy rains were moving toward her. I packed the other two dogs, Gretel and Gretchen, into the truck for a quick drive to the maintenance road.
But then heavy rain came over me from the north and I turned around to head home where rain had evaded me.
Here's when I noticed the side gate ajar. No sign of Sahne, Fritz or Wolfie. Oh shit.
How long were the dogs missing? Had I left the gate unsecured, or had one of the dogs pushed the lever up? Sahne is pretty smart and watches my moves closely and she has pushed on the lever in the past. But now all my desire to walk the dogs separately before the rain were dashed. I had to find the missing dogs, but if they had been running free all day, someone would have called animal control and this time send them directly to the Douglas shelter. And/or I could have three less dogs moving forward.
Again I felt defeated. How can I have a total of five dogs running the streets in a span of three days? I went on Facebook but this time found no "Found dogs" post anywhere. If the dogs were loose all day, they would have been picked up for sure. Then I saw a notice from Lesley dated 4:29pm with "...a gentleman down the block said that there are two of your dogs running loose by the mailboxes." It was 5:25pm. I drove over there with Sweetie but saw nothing. I went back home.
Indeed dark storm clouds were over the mountains. Lightning flashed to the north. I had the start of my Asian salad outside on Kevin's chair when I heard dogs barking north of me, the kind of excited barking I hear when dogs fence fight. I jumped up to get into the truck again and didn't have to drive far to see all three dogs in the back alley. All three came to me and jumped into the truck heavily panting. They looked exhausted. Their heads were caked in mud.
I sat in the truck with all four dogs as storm clouds continued to move closer. This storm is the last of the storms for this month. I waited for them to get their breathing back. Fritz vomited some digested kibble in the front passenger leg area but luckily there were so many paper napkins on the floor to absorb the mess. There's a reason why I hold on to all those fast-food paper napkins! Once the breathing went down to normal, I decided to walk them in twos. The first set was Fritz and Sahne, leaving Wolfie with Sweetie.
I always enjoy seeing what I call my three backyard dogs out on a walk. Sahne pranced ahead of me, but Fritz was slow and dragging behind me. He did not look well. It was perhaps exhaustion and dehydration. I was barely back at the RV when it began to rain, so I placed Sahne in the CRV and tied Fritz to the RV, but then the rain came down hard and I had to loosen Gretel and Gretchen and bring them inside.
Fritz slept in the RV with Gretel and Gretchen, but he stayed in the living room watching me. Hansel slept outside but he didn't seem to mind.
This morning I did another round of laps with the dogs starting at 4:40am. I started with Fritz and Hansel. Both did well, but Fritz had diarrhea that he luckily saved for the outdoors. Thankfully no one saw him poop in the dark! He was walking faster now compared to last night. Neither dog pulled hard. It was the same with the second two dogs: Gretel and Sahne. These two dogs act like loving siblings, always jumping on and over each other like puppies. Neither pulled hard, either. It was the same with Wolfie and Sweetie next. Wolfie always seems so happy to be near me and doesn't pull at all. I'm sure he could be a loving and obedient leash walker with more practice. Sweetie followed us off-leash. Gretchen walked the final loop but she pulled the entire time. She probably smelled her entire pack all over the neighborhood, and the darting rabbits didn't help much, either.
Thus ends another summary of the life of a single mom to seven dogs.
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