Keeping Ahead of the Dog

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All I had on my agenda was changing the duvet for the season. David helped me last time, but I was able to do the burrito change by myself without looking at the video. Yay! I rolled the duvet up, turned the ends inside out, and unrolled it, leaving the duvet lying on top of the cover. Reversing the procedure with lighter materials, I made the bed again. I wouldn’t be surprised if I took 1,000 steps going from one side of the bed to the other. I have only one sheet designated as Kacey’s cover sheet, keeping her fur from getting to the duvet. While it was being washed, I barricaded her from getting on the bed.

I felt I had done a good day’s work, not knowing that a crisis was about to unleash itself on me. Kacey asked to go outside. I hooked her to the line from the stake and retreated to the back porch to get out of the light drizzle. She didn’t seem to notice the rain and eagerly traced some animal’s scent. She suddenly froze in place, intently watching something on the street. In a split second she was running at full speed. It took a second for me to realize she was out of sight, leaving a broken collar and bent stake behind. I told Lise on the phone that I had to go quickly. I retrieved the collar and saw that the plastic catch was broken. On the way through the house, I picked up a leash and my rain jacket before stepping onto the front porch. To my utter astonishment, Kacey was standing in the front yard!! I was sure she would bolt as she did the last time, heading up the mountain. Joyce caught her that time. I called Kacey, and she immediately came to the porch. Whew!

I had to think ahead, though. She would need to go out again, and she had to be tethered. I texted David to ask if he had another collar here. He replied right away, saying he would go out and buy a collar if necessary. There wasn’t an extra collar, but he said there should be a harness on the porch. I fetched two, took a photo, and he suggested the easier one to use. Thank heavens he could write out directions for putting it on her! I sent another picture, and he said that was correct. When I looked at the photo later, I thought Kacey looked untidy with her fur disheveled. It’s certainly the way I felt!

As much as I wish we weren’t always connected to our phones, I certainly was happy that David was available to help me immediately.

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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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46 thoughts on “Keeping Ahead of the Dog”

  1. My dogs have snapped leashes and broken collars too when they see an animal they want to chase. I love that you had to barricade the dog from the bed while you washed the sheet. The things we do for those pups.

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  2. So glad that ended without a disaster. Yay for Kacey staying in the yard! What a sweet girl she is. I miss her.(and you)

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  3. Bless you, my dear! Thank goodness she came when you called her. And that duvet switch was quite a trick it looks like, but love your blockade on the bed.

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  4. I’m glad you didn’t get caught if the rush..Kacey is a strong dog so do be careful..funny…I just thought of you flying by like wonderwoman with a cape waving in the wind..

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  8. What a good girl Kacey is. We had to train Ruby and Ranger to stay off our bed because Ranger will not leave the extra cover that we put on for them in place. He insists on pulling back the covers and laying on one of our pillows. Have you considered getting an invisible fence for Kacey? We’ve never used one, but I’ve known people who have and they seem to work well.

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    1. I lost the beginning of this reply. Kacey is likely to outlive me, and I can barely keep her as it is. I’d love to see her settled with an active family where she can get plenty of exercise. So far, no one has shown interest in her.

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    1. I try to be very careful of the steps I take. One foot wrong, one bone broken, and I won’t be able to take care of the dog. I’d love for her to be with an active family.

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  11. I know you know about caution and the possibilities. We can’t get Sheba on the couch or the bed. She is the first dog we ever invited onto the couch with us but she wants no part of it. i think she is afraid of heights! She will be 10 on June 25th. I hope you are able to keep her, it sounds like she is company, although sometimes with our pets we feel as though we are the ones who are tethered!

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    1. John and I didn’t want more pets, having had cats in NY. The dog belonged to David, and he didn’t want her any more. I’m wondering if God has us in a holding pattern, waiting for a good home for her.

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          1. Well that is true – I had an exciting walk yesterday, lots of critters before the walk was over (a larger park). Tonight I think we are now clear … I’ve been bouncing back-and-forth from the weather to here. We were supposed to have severe weather, but all the tornadic activity ended up in SW Michigan. Can’t go to bed yet, though as it is a drenching downpour and rumbling a little, but mercifully, no tornado.

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          2. I forgot and hit “send” – where they had the tornado, about 120 miles from here, they had 4-inch hail. I can’t imagine hail that large!

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              1. Yes, can you imagine? I saw a photo of it – amazing! We had three tornadoes in SW Michigan, two in one town alone (Portage) and it was an EF2 tornado, clocked at 135 mph. I worry about tornadoes all the time – it is like we have volatile weather about every two weeks now.

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                  1. Earlier I had the heat on as it was damp and cold and then I had an A/C inspection in a 12-5 window. The tech got here at 2:30 and it poured the entire time she was here and she was out in a rain suit and huge golf umbrella. She wasn’t done ’til 4:00 and the A/C was on the entire time – it is 68 in the house. I may have to put the heat on to warm it up. Yesterday, I would not have minded having the A/C on.

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                    2. It happened again tonight, so I closed out and just went back and they are there, so I’m going to try to stay caught up, but I just wrote to WP to ask what they did that was new. They have tweaked something along the line.

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                    4. I just got online – a stormy morning and more torrential rain … no answer yet. In Reader, I only get the last 12 hours of posts, nothing more. I will have to subscribe by e-mail I guess. I can’t always stay caught up to just the last 12 hours even though I’m retired … I have not gotten into a groove yet and I look at the clock and suddenly it’s 5:00 p.m. – where does the time go?

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                    6. I know it – it amazes me and another funny thing is not remembering what day it is and having to look at the landline info window to verify it. There is no weekend now for me – it all melds together. 🙂

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                    8. It feels pretty good to accomplish nothing, though my house is in pretty bad shape – I put on blinders. Soon enough it will be this sickening hot Summer they are predicting, so they’ll be time to do it then.

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