Unprecented

This can't be happening.

Gina stood at the back door, “Marty, Marty, come on boy. Where are you?” She’d already looked through every window in the house and couldn’t see him. There was no view at the side so the opened the door. Her stomach lurched. No sign of him.

With an exasperated sigh, she turned, slipped off her slippers and slid her feet into her bedraggled, muddy sketchers. They’d clearly seen better days. She was glad she hadn’t bothered to clean them off yet, because, here she was again traipsing through the muddy back yard searching for the dog. It wasn’t even her dog. She was doing her friend a favour and minding a lanky, gangly lab cross named Marty for two weeks, and maybe longer if the need arose. Her friend Sophie was having surgery and was desperate for help. Marty was a very lovable galoot, a gentle giant, but he did have a mind of his own with a cunning eye and powerful nose. Only one year old, he invested a lot of his days sniffing the air and then following that nose wherever it went. Unfortunately for today, it looked like he was out of the yard. But how?

Gina inspected the perimeter of her large double lot and kept calling. “Marty, come on boy!” She inspected the fence line and couldn’t see any sign of an escape. The back fence was landscape fencing, fairly flimsy if provoked, but Marty was a frequent visitor and had never bothered with it before and as far as Gina could tell there were no obvious signs of tampering. She circled the house and went to the side gate. Surely he didn’t take it into his head to jump over the gate. He could easily do it, but he was very timid and having gotten his paw stuck as a pup he’d scared himself so badly that he wouldn’t even sit close to it now…..or so she thought. 

There was no time to waste. Marty didn’t know the neighbourhood well and he wasn’t particularly friendly to people he didn’t know because he was intimidated easily by strangers. He would growl and he had a very aggressive resounding bark if he was uncomfortable enough. It was not an ideal situation. As far as street smart and traffic smart, he was hopeless. He would follow his nose and then realize as an after thought he was out of his element. Time was definitely of the essence. The good news, he only had about a ten minute start.

Gina wasn’t sure which way to turn and where to start looking. A lot could happen in ten minutes. She raced inside trying to control the panic that was overtaking her. She clipped her fanny pack around her waste and pulled out Marty’s dog whistle. Thankfully he did have great re-call and she unzipped her pack and assured herself that she had his special incentive if he responded immediately. The salmon pate was his reward, but only to be used with the whistle.

She turned right and headed down the sidewalk that was fairly familiar territory. Nothing seemed amiss and no neighbourhood dogs hugged the fence line today as she quickly covered the first block, then turned again down a side street that backed onto her back fence. It was just a thought. If this had happened a week ago there was snow on the ground and she could have looked for paw prints, but today, after the snow melt, there was nothing to give her a clue as to which way to go.

There was a vacant lot behind her house and she walked across the grass and uneven ground. This lot bordered on a neighbouring house and lined her back hedge. They had a large garden last summer that was fenced in completely, to help keep out rabbits and deer from eating their crops. As she got closer she could see that fact was no longer the case. The fence lay completely broken and dilapidated with no hope of protecting anything. New owners I guess, didn’t care about a garden. She glanced back at their house but no one seemed to be about. No movement in the windows, She was pretty sure no one was at home. She hoped so because, after all, she was trespassing.

Her cell phone rang. Should she answer it? No time! She turned it off. What if it was someone calling about the dog? 

She stepped carefully over broken boards and examined where her property line met the neighbours. Her tall, bushy cedar hedge was dense and blocked the view of her home. She searched for any signs of disturbance in the growth.

She crouched and crawled to a small opening where when bent down to ground level, could see sunlight sifting through the low branches. That was a surprise.. She thought nothing was visible between the properties, hence, no reason to intrigue a dog. It’s possible though, a determined Marty could have slipped through here with his slim body. Why though? What was his motivation? A quick examination of the rotting garden revealed a rabbit might have been the culprit.

That could be one explanation. Gina was convinced that must have been what happened.  Marty smelled a rabbit, chased it , lost any fear he might have had, and maneuvered the fence, crawled under and escaped. He probably had no idea how to get back, even if he wanted to.

But now which way did he go? Her pulse started racing as she tried to control and slow her breathing. Think! She pulled the whistle from her pocket and quickly trekked across the vacant lot holding it between her teeth. The elementary school was up ahead to her right, She could hear kids playing and screaming. A quick glance at her watch confirmed it was recess.  

She blew! Again and again.

The whistle wasn’t getting a response and it wouldn’t with the kids in full play. A wax moth couldn’t hear over that. She ran towards the school, praying she was on the right track. The laughter and excitement from a herd of kids might entice a dog to check it out.

Gina blew the whistle persistently until she reached the edge of the school yard. Some girls saw her and ran over to the fence and yelled “Your dog’s over there.” They pointed up the hill to her left. Sure enough, there was Marty, standing tall, patrolling the school gate, barking his head off. She blew harder and his ears perked up.  He cocked his head, listened for a second, then galloped down the hill, nearly bowling her over. Luckily she was ready for him. She’d just had time to pull open the pate. Slobber flew!

Gina wanted to reprimand him on the spot, but the scolding would have to come later. After all, she quickly reminded herself, he did come when he heard the whistle.

She reached in her pockets, one after the other. Oh no! No leash! In her mad panic to get out the door, she had forgotten it hanging on the banister right inside. Would he walk nicely without one? It wasn’t that far. Another precedent. Off leash….in a neighbourhood where it isn’t allowed.

Okay, stay calm!

Gina coaxed quietly, crossed the road and entered a small alleyway between two houses. It was overgrown at the sides with blackberry bushes. Marty sniffed leisurely, but kept moving, steadily, staying by her until they reached the end of the alley where he took the lead. Surprisingly he turned to the right and with long lanky strides loped right to Gina’s driveway where he stopped, looked back and waited for her to catch up. They walked without incident into the house. 

He seemed contrite. Head down, he marched purposely to his crate, stepped in, spun around and laid down, resting his head on his paws. Those big brown eyes caught Gina’s. She hadn’t scolded him, but he knew it was coming. Sooner or later.

It was those big brown eyes. “Yes, you are a bad boy, Marty. You stay.” was all she could muster.

Gina left him there to ponder. First and foremost, she had a job to do. She examined the fence where she thought he might have escaped and searched for clues. When she lifted the fencing she realized that he could indeed, if determined, slip his head under and nose his way out of the yard. Obviously his determination did the trick today.

She found some heavy boards, tucked them up against the bottom of the fencing and secured them with landscape ties. Hopefully that would deter him. It wasn’t pretty, but if it worked Gina didn’t care. 

She checked her phone. She’d forgotten to check to see who called earlier. There were two calls. SOPHIE! She was probably calling to see how things were going. Thank goodness she hadn’t answered it. Sitting for the dog seemed like a good idea, but after today? At least she was calm now and maybe, just wouldn’t mention it. 

The other call, left a voice mail. “I think your dog is loose. I tried to grab him, but he ran off.”

“Come on, Marty, let’s go check out the back.” 

He’d slept for a full two hours without budging and now it was time to go out again, but this time, with a witness. Gina pulled on a sweater and watched from the back door. He completely ignored the fence and the boards. That was bitter sweet. 

Another day, I guess. She went inside.......

The phone rang.

“Hello…..WHAT?"

This can’t be happening.