The Great Canine Solstice Adventure!

What were you doing at 1:00 A.M. last night?

Were you nestled snugly in your bed, fast asleep?  My wife and I, after performing the Solstice Egg Trick, were about to go to bed.

On the Summer (and Winter) Solstice, you can stand an egg on its end easily.

Anyway...I was attempting to play a joke on my wife, who went out on the back deck to retrieve a mat we put outside to dry (little Dixie was scared of the vacuum and peed on it). I locked the backdoor behind her, and when she tried to get back in, well, she couldn't. I laughed, opened the door, and in the excitement, Dixie ran right out the door and into the freedom of the backyard.

Dixie is an indoor dog. She lives in the house with us, and when she goes outside, its always on a leash because our county has leash laws, and we try to be nice, responsible citizens. Since Dixie is leash-trained, when she gets out of the house and 'escapes,' she runs all over the neighborhood, which is about a mile long because we live in the country.

At 1:00 in the morning, Dixie, our BLACK LAB, ran off into the darkness, making her way straight to her boyfriend Ranger's house to look for her playmate. (Our neighbors have a chocolate lab named Ranger that Dixie likes to play with, whenever the dogs are both outside, they always look at one another longingly...) Ranger wasn't outside, so she ran to the next house that has dogs, but they weren't out either.

This led her about a half a mile down the road towards the next house with dogs, and after returning to our property whistling and calling for her, I finally couldn't hear her little tags tinkling in the darkness anymore, so I grabbed a flashlight to go looking for her. Misty had already taken the car and driven down to try and corral her, but she wouldn't get in, so off I went for the night hike.

I finally encountered Dixie about a half-mile down the road, trying to play with neighbor dogs she didn't know, which were running her off the property again and again. I shined the flashlight on her (a Mag-lite, with a powerful beam, like the ones police and military use), and she bolted towards our house, scared of the light.

Thankfully, Misty was out on the back deck, called for Dixie once she neared the house, and the scared, exhausted pup ran right into her arms.

My wife is a fantastic woman. She showed me much in the way of grace last night. When Dixie returned, finally, she praised her, loved on the puppy, gave her food and water, and acted happy and overjoyed to see her again (which we both were), instead of beating the devil out of her, which we also both wanted to do. I love Misty very much...she continues to make me a better man each day. :)

(AWWWW...that's so sweet!)

At 2:00 A.M., we finally got into bed. That was the end of the Great Canine Solstice Adventure, and now, this morning our puppy lies sleeping hard, still exhausted from her hour-long night run through the neighborhood.

Lesson to be learned? I'll leave the philosophy to you.

Until then, enjoy the ride! :)