Another Scrape...

Well, I got myself into another funny scrape this morning.
I am caring for a coonhound. She is a lovely girl, but very independent, and does not yet have a recall built in. She just does what she wants for the most part.
Somehow, she got under or over the back fence this morning, and into my neighbours yard. I still can't figure out how she did it. She is NOT a small dog, and I really can't figure out how she materialized over there! I tried calling, but she gave me the 'screw you' look, and trotted further away. I silently freaked inside... sometimes hounds will get on a scent, and just GO, and no looking back. They can cover a lot of territory, and could be really hard to find or catch.
I had to walk away from her direction, along the fenceline, until I found a portion I could manipulate and squeeze under. It has been raining on and off for days, and the ground is wet and mushy and cold. Not pleasant!
After I got to the other side, I saw that the naughty hound had gone under yet ANOTHER fence, into the mobile home park behind me. Great! Joy! Happiness! NOT!
So, off I go crawling under another fence. This one was a bit higher off the ground, and not so squeezy. Miss Hound saw me coming, and booted it the other way. She new I was going to get her! I scooped some treats out of my pocket (thankfully I always have a pocketful of treats for such emergencies) and she hadn't been fed yet, so I guess she was hungry. She looked at me, then made the decision to come get a treat. WHEW! What a relief! There was the great chance she could've gone the other way, and I would've ended up chasing her forever and ever.
I snapped a leash on her, and crawled under the first fence, and enticed her with a treat to follow. Then she pulled me over to the fence to visit the rest of her friends who were so patiently waiting for me. I then led her back to the fence bordering my yard. I looped the leash around my wrist... I was NOT going to risk losing her again at this point! and started to crawl back under. Going back was WAY harder than the other way. Of course, what should happen as I'm half way through the fence, all contorted and trying to squeeze myself as small as possible?
The phone rings!
Of course, being a business owner, I don't want to take the risk that it may be a new or existing client, and they may not leave a message for me, they may just call someone else...
So, I reach into my pocket - not an easy task, as I am in a position I can't even describe at this point, and get out the phone. I notice it is one of my favourite clients, so I press the button and answer.
Then I started laughing so hard, my client couldn't even talk to me! Thankfully she is one of those wonderful people with a sense of humour, so I told her the predicament I was in (meanwhile Miss Coonhound is pulling as hard as she can to get away, which makes my situation just that more difficult!). We both had a good laugh at me, made our appointment, and hung up. Then I had to wiggle and squiggle and worm the rest of the way under the fence.
Then I had to lure Miss Hound under. Not as easy as it sounds, as she is a big girl!

We are all safe and sound on the right side of the fence now. I have changed into clean, dry clothes. It is now raining out, so I am glad I wasn't crawling under fences later than I was. I fed everyone, and put them in their beds for a little bit so I can recover. Luckily, it is a holiday day today, so I can relax a bit. I will tell you that Miss Hound has completely lost her freedom privileges, and will be on a leash for the rest of her stay here. I am not taking the chance she escapes and decides to run the other way!

Another Visit

Yesterday, a cow from the neighbours yard came to visit.
Some of you who have been 'following' for a while may remember last year when a couple of cows came to visit. It took the owner hours to get the cow back into his own yard. The cow really, really didn't want to go! At the time, I thought...."wouldn't it be nice to have a border collie to herd this cow?!"

This year, I had my little border collie.
We've had all of one lesson in herding, but my little Kybosh has great instinct. I haven't a clue what I am doing.
The cow came over really early in the morning, and I had all the dogs out, and was on my way to feed the chickens, when the dogs all rushed the cow. Blitzen, the whippet, got there first, jumped up and bit the cow on the ass. I guess he thought he was a border collie.
He got a good swift kick in the ribs for his trouble.
The other dogs continued the chase. Maggie, Boom-boom, Kybosh, Reckless and a little terrier, Kira. Blitzen was cowering on the ground at this time, crying.
The cow was back in her own yard in moments.

Then, the stupid cow came back later that day. Cows are supposed to be smarter than chickens... aren't they???

This time, I saw the cow before the dogs did. I rushed them all inside, except for Ky. I told her to 'get it'. Not a herding command, lol, but I panicked, and said the first thing that came to mind.
Anyway, Ky had that cow trotting easily back towards the fence in no time. She looked back at me once to ask if she was doing the right thing, and I told her good girl, and keep on going, and she escorted that cow right back to her own yard. No fear in that little girl! Now I really want to keep up with the herding lessons when I can afford it. It will be so helpful here on the farm in the future!

I called the owner of the cow, who came straight away and fixed the fence. Yay! No more cows for a while, anyway.

Oh! And Blitzen is just fine. The cow obviously didn't get him too bad, and he recovered in moments.