dog adventures of the eleventh day

Spent all day yesterday pretty tiered, and that was before the dog got loose.

I returned home from work on campus , and the dog was naturally very excited to see me after being shut in for five hours or so. With severe thunderstorms predicted on the way, I decided we'd go out for a walk right away. In the haste to satisfy the poor, put-upon canine, I didn't get her attached tho the leash before we stepped out the door.

She took off right away across the street, into a neighbor's deep yard (the neighborhood across the street C—'s house faces on is decidedly upscale in architecture and land use). I quite lost track of her, getting separated by a strip of trees and underbrush, and, as I found out, by the fence around the property. Once I realized she was surrounded on several sides by fence, I was able to chase her around, kind of cornered, till the neighbor herself emerged to see what was up.

A new human and candidate friend to go meet instantly shot to the top of the dog's priorities, so instead of running from me, suddenly she was running toward the neighbor on the latter's back porch. I found myself terrifically grateful for the help and understanding of the neighbor, who both commiserated regarding the challenges of containing beagles (her own beagle could be seen watching us through the window) and knew C— and her dog and all about why I was there caring for the same.

After getting the leash back on the dog, we continued the walk through the neighborhood across the street, where we actually did a bit of proper squirrel-chasing. Chasing small game is pretty well this beagle's reason for existence, but I've felt it best not done on other people's lawns, which constitute all the land in the places we usually go walking. In the neighborhood across the street, though, are a few islands of open space with no houses in them in the middle of intersections, even large enough to support a few trees. On such ground I hardly minded trying my hardest to keep up as she hauled me along on the fully-extended leash, pursuing her life's work.

The severe storms never did show up. A short walk was undertaken after dark, too, just for good measure, and under much better control. At that time I made use of a little LED headlamp I won at auction at a church event last week. I think I may leave the lamp here for C— when she returns; having the hand free that would otherwise hang on to a flashlight was confirmed quite convenient. She'd probably get very good use out of it.