TheBanyanTree: Escape from the Kingdom

[Monique Colver]

I woke up this morning alone in my bed, except for Ash, the black lab/blue
heeler. When he saw me stirring he left his place at the foot of the bed and
came up next to me, and plopped down on Andrew's pillows, and he laid his
head on me and promptly went back to sleep. He's a very sweet dog. He
showers me with affection and will follow me from room to room, just to be
in my presence. He'll do this with Andrew too -- he's a highly socialized
dog. I know that he will never leave me, at least not of his own accord, and
I am assured of his constant devotion.

Until he figures out how to escape the back yard.

Several nights ago we called the dogs in from the backyard. We sensed
hesitation in the air, and then Honey came from around the corner, the area
where the gate to the Big Outdoors is, and she looked at us, and she
stopped.

"Where's Ash?" we asked, though she has never yet, in all the years I've
known her, actually responded with words. We keep hoping. Instead of
answering, she shrugged her shoulders in the way only a Golden Chow can, and
walked into the house.

Andrew reached the logical conclusion, and went out the front door. I could
hear him out there, calling, "Ash, Ash . . . "

Ash came running up from the end of the cul de sac, joyously buoyant, so
happy to have had an adventure in the Big Outdoors. The reprimands that
followed momentarily dismayed him, and we can't bear the thought of an Ash
dismayed, so his reprimands soon stopped.

This morning I let the dogs outside, as I do every morning when I get up,
and I left the door open. It's a nice day, why not? An hour later we went to
look out the bedroom window to see what they were doing. Ash will usually,
first thing in the morning, came running back in right away and attempt to
find someone to go back to bed with. Perhaps, we thought, he'd gotten busy
in the yard. During the past few days he's managed to turn it into a
quasi-dump, dragging things outside that don't belong outside and having
himself a Very Good Time with a roll of doggie excrement container pouches
(also known as poop bags), which now litter the yard. Honey just sniffs at
this desecration of her sacred yard.

There was no sign of Ash in the yard. There was Honey, and she looked up at
us as if to say, "Well, it's certainly not my turn to look after him." Again
Andrew went out the front door, after finding his shoes, and there was Ash,
running and dancing around in the street again. Apparently he's not so
devoted that he can't stand to run off now and then.

He's currently on house arrest. I'm not sure exactly what this means, but
I'm certain Ash has decided house arrest is a good time to curl up in the
chair in Andrew's office and take a nap. Later, he knows, he'll be out
running around again, and once we fix the gate, again, he knows he'll find,
again, a way out. He is most confident in his abilities.

And so am I.



-- 
Monique Colver