Buddy the Escape Artist

Giggles filled the air from the little boy in the family. This only meant that he was about to do something that the rest of the humans in the house would not approve of. Then the little boy went to the front door. My ears perked up as I heard the front door open. No one in the family never let me go through this door. Now was my chance! Forever grateful to the little boy, I ran out the door.

“Brother!” the girl in the house shouted. She was the human I considered to be my mama out of the four humans who lived at the house with me. Her hair was long and she was taller than the little boy who let me out. She was too late though because I was gone.

My paws at first didn't touch the soft grass like they would whenever I was in the backyard. Instead they touched something that was hard and not as comfortable. Then there was a step down. Within my next couple of paw-steps I was back on the grass. There was no fence; I was free! Today was warm and bright. I felt my fur fly against the wind as I raced past the big tree in the front yard. The tags on my collar jingled with every step I took.

“Buddy!” the girl called as she chased after me.

This was great! I could play a game of tag with my mama! She was “it” and I wasn't going to let her catch me.

“Buddy!” I heard the woman of the house call out. She was as tall as the girl, but her hair was a bit shorter. On her face in front of her eyes were two round mini windows. The girl often call the woman by the name of “Mom”, “Mama”, or “Mother”. I guess that made her my human grandma to me then since the older girl was my mama.

Oh boy! Now I had two people to play with, yet I felt like two against one wasn't fair. However, I still wasn't going to let them catch me. I zoomed down the street and into someone's backyard. No other humans were around, so I peed on the bush in the yard. My bathroom break was cut short though since the girl had almost caught up to me, so I dashed out of the way as she was about to grab my collar. I was too fast for her. This game was fun!

As I continued to run, I picked up the smell of a squirrel, which I didn't normally get to smell since they never came to the backyard. Ever since I moved into my forever home, I dreamed of the day when I would get to chase squirrels like I did at what was called my foster home. I followed the smell through some yards, and had to go around a house that had a fence in the backyard. Then I lost the scent to my disappointment. That squirrel was lucky today, but some day I would catch it.

“Buddy! Want a Milk-Bone?” the girl yelled.

As much as I enjoyed treats, right now I enjoyed this freedom much more. So I ignored her and continued to run. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something small and fluffy dart away. My nose caught the smell of a bunny. I chased it across the street and through more yards. After all, a bunny was a better treat than a Milk-Bone any day. Right when I was close to the bunny, it darted into a thick group of bushes and disappeared. For a few moments I sniffed around the bushes to see if I could find a good way to get into the bushes. Unfortunately, I was too big. The bunny got lucky today.

After a while, the sky began to get dark. My long run made me tired and thirsty. I couldn't even hear my human mama anymore; I must have outran her. At home there was a water dish waiting for me, so that's where I decided to go. When I looked around though, I didn't recognize any of the houses around me. This wasn't my family's neighborhood; where was I? My humans were nowhere to be smelled. How was I going to get home?

For some reason, I thought about the silly picture box the little boy watched sometimes. Sometimes a strange bird appeared on the screen and said “Follow your nose wherever it goes!” Wait... that was it! Thank you strange bird!

Carefully and slowly I followed my own scent past all of the houses I ran past earlier. As I got closer to home, I faintly smelled the scent of the girl. Where was she? I had to find her before it got too dark. So I ran again. Thankfully, it did not take long before my nose led me right to her.

“Buddy!” the girl hugged me. She smelled sweaty, as if she ran for a while too. Did she lose her scent back to the house? Or maybe she she was looking for me the whole time. Then she put a leash on me. “Let's go home...”

Together the girl and I walked the rest of the way home before it was too dark. We went up the step to the front door, followed by another step up into the house. When we arrived, the woman was already there. After the woman shut the door, the girl took my leash off. I walked over to my water dish and lapped up all of the water. Once my water dish was empty, the woman took my water dish and a couple of moments later brought it back full of water to my delight. Happily I lapped up more water until I thirsted no more.

After my adventure, I felt tired and decided to take a nap before dinner. Wow that was so much fun though! I couldn't wait for the next time the little boy opened the front door for me.