Damned (Smart) Dog

This morning, I hooked the dogs into their harnesses, clipped on the leashes, and opened the garage door so we could begin our walk. Daisy pulled and tugged at her harness and, suddenly, she was off and running! Man, is that one fast dog -- and she had no intention whatsoever of either stopping or coming back when she's called.

It took an hour of going up and down the streets, peering into both front and back yards, walking east 5 blocks toward the busy street before I finally was able to trap her. Of course, I had Mia on the leash, which made the process even more challenging, but I couldn't take the time to return Mia home without losing sight of Daisy's general direction. She did go up to a man getting into his vehicle and I shouted at him to catch her, but he evidently didn't speak English, so petted her and she ran again.

The only reason I was able to corner Daisy, after she escaped several times into other families' backyards, was that one fence had no wide openings. She got herself backed into a small space and began digging as fast as she could, but she didn't quite get the hole big enough before I grabbed her choke collar and stopped the great escape. My biggest worry, other than marauding packs of feral dogs, was that she'd run heedlessly into the path of oncoming traffic and be killed right in front of me. If she's outside, she simply will not come when she's called, but she responds instantly to her name when we're inside the house. Go figure.

Once I had her hooked up and back home, I chastised her roundly, sent her scurrying into the house, and then set off on my walk alone. Mia was exhausted after a solid hour of trying to coax Daisy back home and/or onto her leash, so I left her to explain things to Daisy while I walked off my mad. Believe me, Daisy is not going walking for a couple of mornings and I hope she gets the message!!