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The Wonder Pup – Part Two
We went outside and started lining up the stolen goods on the curb. The least we could do was to try to arrange it so they were recognizable. While we were displaying the various bits and pieces our lady neighbor from across the street came over and said, “That’s my potted plant. Can I have it back?” We were mortified. Our explanation to her sounded a bit like a student saying to his teacher, “My dog ate my homework.” We were glad when all the mess was in a nice line and we could go inside and hide like reasonable adults. Except for the potted plant nothing else was ever claimed. We bagged up the remnants after a few days and with more than a little guilt tossed them in the trash.
Later in the spring it happened again, but we were quicker that time to hide the mess. There was no lining up of the stolen goods. Once was enough for us. At this point we were baffled about what to do with our dog.
Time passed, summer was in full swing, and the 4th of July was at hand. Celebrations were going on all over town and barbecues everywhere were wafting delicious smoke-filled scent into the air. I was standing outside in our yard when I looked down the hill and saw Chet trotting up the road toward me. As he was getting closer I noticed he had something in his mouth.
“Where did you get that?” I asked him as I wrestled a half-baked chicken leg and thigh combo dripping in barbecue sauce from his mouth. I was aghast. He had stolen this right off of someone’s grill. It was still warm. I sternly scolded him and then watched him turn right around and head back down the hill. I just knew he was going back for another piece.
That was it! Chet had to have a new home. We quickly put an ad in the local paper about a wonderful dog who needed a new place to live outside of town. Nothing happened for a couple of weeks when finally I got a call from an interested person. Chet sounded perfect to him and we made arrangements for him to be picked up the next day. I was so excited to see Chet go I never bothered to get the man’s name or phone number. All I could think about was it’s over. He’s gone. Hallelujah!
A week or so had passed since his departure. I drove up to the house after work and once again saw Chet sitting in his hole in the front yard. “NO!” I yelled out loud while I was still in the car. This wasn’t possible. He couldn’t be back. Sure enough it was Chet. He had returned. Then it hit me, I had no information on the man who had picked him up. I had no way to tell him we had his dog. Grrrr….
Marm and I agreed to put another ad in the paper. This time it was directed to Chet’s new owner. It went something like this: To the man who owns Chet, he came back to his old home. Please come pick him up. Thank you.
It was only a few days or so later and we never saw Chet again. In fact we never saw the man either. Chet simply wasn’t here anymore. I wince when I say this now, but back then I didn’t care at all about not knowing why he was gone again. He was gone. That’s all that mattered.
Our best guess on how he got back to our house was that he was in the back of his new owner’s pick-up truck which was in town for some reason. Chet remembered where he was, hopped out, and followed his nose back to the ole’ hole in the ground.
I’ve never had any other animal experience that rivals this one. I guess all that’s left to say is this, “To the man who owns him: thank you and I hope you’ve had amazingly good success with Chet the wonder pup. Found anything new in your yard lately?”
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The Wonder Pup – Part One
“Why do we have all… these… animals?” A real question flung out into space by parents just like us all across the face of America.
All of our children were raised with pets in the home. For the most part this was a good thing. There were those days however, when I wondered.
Over the years we have racked up quite the array of species who have called our house home. Let’s see: dogs, cats, fish, birds, a rabbit, hamsters, gerbils, mice (in a cage), guinea pigs, and turtles. Some of these have left indelible marks on us because of their love and devotion to us. Others simply lived here, ate the food, and either moved-on or passed-on. For me, however, there is one pet so infamous I am scarred for life. His name was Chet.
We purchased Chet for a reasonable price and were very excited to get this basset hound for our family. We loved the look of him from the start and all of us took to him immediately. He had the usual basset hound coloring, and a mild-mannered personality to go with it. It was a home run for us and he was the center of attention. He loved all the kids, both our kids and the rent-a-kids Marm watched in daycare. One small problem cropped up though. In his exuberance he would jump up with his front paws and knock them flat. Bassetts are low to the ground, but are hefty. When they jump up they have some girth behind them. The kids went sailing when this happened.
Chet was now an outside dog during the day. We made a comfy spot for him off the edge of our front porch and tethered him there. All seemed well. WRONG! He was a hound dog. Bassetts howl…loudly. No amount of encouraging, threatening, promising, or the like curbed his noise. He wanted off the tether and that was final! We caved and let him off. Big Mistake! Huge!
To top things off it was now autumn and the rain began to fall. We weren’t worried about him getting wet since he had the entire covered porch to lay on. Again WRONG! He chose the mud. He lay there like a pot-belly pig in heaven. He had dug out a shallow hole in the flower bed the size of his body and lay there in the rain. Dumb dog. After some encouragement from Marm, I built him a doghouse. I proudly placed it on the porch out of the weather and introduced him to it. I showed him the nice construction, dry comfy blankets inside and the roof overhead. I pushed (forced) him inside so he could get the true feeling of its warmth. Minutes later I found him in the wet muddy hole again. He never used the doghouse, ever.
This was our winter. We worked hard trying to keep him warm, dry, and feed. Curbing his howling was top of the list. We were hopeful that once spring arrived things would be easier. Again WRONG!
Spring did arrive and we let Chet roam. It was the only way to keep him quiet. One morning we awoke to a horrifying sight. Looking out at our front yard we saw it covered with the oddest items: a coat, a boot (just one), a shoe (again just one), a potted plant, a plastic bag filled with garbage, a baseball mitt, and a random sock or two. Chet had raided the neighborhood during the night. He was a canine kleptomaniac. I looked at Marm and said. “What are we supposed to do with this stuff now? We can’t take it back, we don’t even know where he got it.”
(To be continued…)
Curls & Capes 