Play Dates

I guess the best way to tell this story is to tell how things occurred. It’s one of those situations where you realize - after the fact - that you missed the signs.

Okay, so I came home last night and as I walked into the house I was hit with the smell of wet dog. Since I have a doggy door and a wading pool for my dogs, I checked them out to see which one of them was the smelly dog. They were both dry.

I figured that maybe the smell had been from earlier in the day and it didn’t last long so I didn’t think much about it.

Then, in the living room, Max’s dog bowl was on the floor (it’s usually on the elevated area in front of the fireplace) by the sofa. I thought that was kind of strange and even had the fleeting thought that in the almost six years that I’ve had Max, that’s never happened. But again, I brushed the thought aside and didn’t think much more about it.

However, I did notice that Max didn’t seem himself last night. He was breathing heavy when I got home and lacked energy. When I would call him, he wasn’t coming - which normally he does at breakneck speed. I hounded that dog, trying to figure out what was wrong. I massaged every part of him and kept expecting to have him whimper or cry when I hit the spot that was hurting him - he never let out a peep. Although, he did seem more whiny about me petting him when he crawled up in my lap (for those that don’t know, Max is a 120 lb. lap dog) - more so than I can recall him ever being. I was really getting concerned about him.

He seemed okay this morning so I went to work without having much concern about him.

And then I came home.

I parked the car in the garage and heard the dogs excitement at me being home, although it wasn’t overly enthusiastic, like it normally is. Then, when Brewsky wasn’t really jumping on the door, like he normally does, I had another flash of worry. I was concerned about what I was going to find inside the house.

So, I opened the door and there was Max and Brewsky, like they always are, excited to see me. Then all of a sudden, bounding around the corner is this yellow dog I’ve never seen before - and this dog is caught up in the excitement of me being home as well.

I let out this scream as my garage door is closing behind me. (It kinda scared me!) Then, as my door is still closing, I recovered enough to say, “Who the hell are you?” I can only imagine what my neighbors thought about that. LOL

Anyway, I came in to find that Brewsky’s bowl was upended today and one of the expensive dog beds I’d bought the dogs had been ripped up and one of the dogs (I assume the guest) had thrown up a couple of times in the house.

Come to find out, two of my fence posts had been knocked down and that’s how this dog got in. I put him (or her - I didn’t check closely) out and went to get a hammer to nail the posts back up and s/he was gone, or so I thought. S/He was on the side of the fence, trying to get back in my backyard.

I got the fence nailed back up and that dog hung around for two hours (at least) whining at my windows and pawing the screens because s/he wasn’t ready to leave.

But the bottom line is this, when you have a doggy door, you have to remember that anything that can fit through the door could be inside waiting for you when you get home. I guess I’m lucky it was a friendly dog. :~)