Great Escape

It is common for my friend and I to have coffee together. And at times, we like to bring our dogs together for a play date. So, it was natural to get together right after the giant snowfall and watch our crazies romp and play together in the cold while we sat inside chatting.

Just as I put the hot cocoa on the table, I saw it. And I yelled inside at him, even though he couldn't hear. For the first time in 2 months, Ransom had tried to jump the fence. I opened the back door and yelled for him to get inside.

He tried again.

I said, "Ransom, come on. Let's go inside!" because even though he needed scolded, I was using the "come in and get a treat" tactic. He turns around to acknowledge that he knew exactly what he was supposed to do, then took a [last] leap at the fence.

He made it.

In shock, I take off out the garage in my slippers, without a coat. [The temperature is in the teens.] I run around the corner to find him but there is nothing. I hear my 7-month pregnant friend behind me. We both yell for Ransom and don't see him anywhere. Everything is white; surely we will see him!

We take off towards the house again and I know that I have to go to the spot where he jumped. So, I trudge through the snow - which is up to my knees - around the front of the house to the back of the fence [in my slippers].

Not even noticing the cold yet, I follow his tracks until they lead me to a shoveled driveway and then I lose him. By this time, knowing my crazy dog's running capabilities and speed, he could be a long ways off. My sacrificing 7-month pregnant friend also trudges through the deep snow and we decide that I will take my car around the neighborhood while she keeps searching around the house.

I get in the car and drive around the block, when I hear my friend yell from the back yard that she found him. So, I turn around as fast as possible [on unplowed streets in my little dodge neon]. By the time I get around to the other side. Ransom is playing chase with my pregnant friend.

In the end, she caught him. We were snow covered and cold. He had been high-centered on a neighbor's 6-foot wooden fence. And, he whined to go back outside for the remainder of our time together.

This leaves me wondering what we will find that can actually contain him inside a yard.