This and That

Soo.. today started out quietly. Charlie slept in, Tracy slept in, it was nice. In fact, it's been quiet for a while as someone (namely Jeff) has been home with him every day. The doggie daycare thought we'd given up bringing him in fact.

But, as Jeff is now on the mend and back at work, so we have gone back to leaving him there.

Anxiety meds along with meds to prevent him from heart seizures, have really made him calmer when we have to take him there. So it's been OK. He has only tried to go out the door once, and it was a half hearted attempt. They also have given him his own quiet room so the barking of the other dogs doesn't upset him.

So why update? Because Charlie.

Tori came home today to run him over to get his rabies shot. He had a shot, an overall exam, and a complimentary pedi. He's overweight. (By about 10 lbs, so we are going to work on that.) Overall, he was quite a good boi. But I should have known something was lurking.

Earlier, before Tori picked him up, he almost went through the door when a bird landed on the railing. One minute he was sleeping, the next, skidding and a bang. Barking like a mad man, he told that bird what was what. He also spotted a squirel that lives in tree outside our window. So we shut doors to stave off the barking.

I should have known this was the signs of trouble. But, I thought he'd gotten it out, because he was good at the vets.

Tori bought a new to her car a few weekends ago. It's burnt orange, her favorite color. It's fairly new, 2007. It's a Ford Edge, and she likes it. So, no grumblies on make an manufacturer, please. It comes with a keyless entry, which was one of the factors when getting it. It only has one key, so she would be able to get herself in this way once she set it up. Which she had planned on doing once she had time. (Working 65 hours a week right now limits her availability to do this) I'm sure you can see where this is going. And you're probably right.

Tori gets home from vet, Charlie sees squirrel again, chaos ensues. Somehow, while getting out of the car, Charlie locked himself in. Guess where Tori's keys were.. yes. In the car, along with her phone, purse....and Charlie.

Tori tried to get him to come brush up on it again to no avail, tried to get a coat hanger in, and even thought to bring a crow bar to the situation. (To mom's horror, she was told to put it down before she broke something with it.)

So, after calls to the police non-emergancy number (that was disconected.. What???), to 911 (who were very nice to call back and say the couldn't come because it wasn't warm enough) to no less than 4 Ford dealers, who didn't answer their phone, and one that did. A call to the locksmith and Allstate roadside (that we cancelled). We finally (45 minutes later) had a winning hero. The locksmith came, had her in her car (and Charlie out). He even helped her with the keyless entry code.

Charlie, of course, has taken this all in stride, and thinks he's the bees knees. Tori is lying down. Jeff gave the bee's knees a walk. Mom is just thankful everything is resolved without having to break something.

I did a bit of stitching... 71,337.5 stitches.

I did a bit of reading: 46 books in total.

I did a bit of working: approx 1060 hours.

Soooo... as you all know Charlie is not allowed to stay home by himself. If we did, there may not be a home to come home to. (For previous examples see earlier chapters..) So we were hurrying on our way to work. All three of us going different directions. Tori, running late to her job as a manager, Jeff to his job as the overseer of the warehouse, and me to make the burritos. (Olé) Mr doggo had to go to his favorite doggie sitter business.

So Jeff put his collar on, and leashed him up sans harness. I questioned the intelligence behind the no harness but didn't want to irritate him and out the door Charlie, Jeff and I went while Tori was hurrying around gathering her things to leave separately.

We go to the doggo day care while Charlie is barking at EVERYTHING out the window.

Jeff got out and let him do his last minute business, while I pulled forward to the door.

Jeff gets Charlie through the door with no issues. But as he comes back to the car, red flags were flying.

Why did they give you his leash and collar?

Do they not remember how hard it is to wrangle this beast? Just as Jeff opens the door, out the door pops Charlie with a pregnant worker in hot pursuit. He has figured out how to open the two, yes two, front doors. (Dang nabbit!)

Down the stairs he came pleased as punch. Then took one look at Jeff, one look back, and off he went... again.

Down into the woods. Again. Crap. So Jeff followed, worker apologizes, and I took off in the car to try to head him off the back way. Stupid stupid stupid. (New worker=does not know Charlie.)

So here we went again just like the last time, trying to get him back to the car. I circle back because now I've lost not only the dog, but Jeffrey too. As I sit in the car in the parking lot, I hear doggo barking. But he is nowhere to be seen. As I sit there, one of the workers runs out in her pj's and flip-flops. (She stays overnight for overnight dogs.) Down into the wooded area she goes.

I circle back through the neighborhood at the backside of the woods, asked a very nice couple of they had seen him. They change directions and head back toward the creek area too. I see the daycare worker and told her the last time he was down by the creek, so she turns around and goes back in.

I finally find my husband and he heads back as well. I circle back around the neighborhood (its 2 different properties that don't connect.) And see Jeff come out with disgraced doggo. We pop him into the car. Now to find the daycare worker... we ran into the couple to let them know we found him. They gave him doggo treats and head scratches. Charlie things he's the bomb dignity. We circle around until we find the daycare worker and take her back with us to the doggy daycare.

Once again locked away, behind 3 doors, Charlie is back. We picked him up later, and aside from all the burrs and a slight limp, he seems like he's pretty dang proud of himself.

So now, Charlie has mastered dog crates, oven doors, refrigerators, gated rooms, and now business double doors. Anyone know how to fence this idiot up? Lol.

Our usual doggy daycare has been quite tolerant of his antics of late. Even when he led every dog out of the pen area and it took 20 full minutes to wrangle them all back up. They know him well and love him despite his unruly rebelling. Due to the pandemic that never ends, we have a few new policies to adhere to. And they are very reasonable. Instead of bringing him in, we call and they come out to get him. He's done this for a bit now. They bring their leash out, and we take ours off, and in they go.

But not today. First we took off his harness and leash. He wore no collar because they only want their leashes on the dogs because.. covid.

They know him fully and to date have never tried to get him without a leash in hand... until today. Our care provider came out and thought she would have him in no problem. Mom had second thoughts, but let her try. They do try to use commands while they have him and he knows a few. But not today.

First he trotted to the bush and marked his territory. Then he kept going, causing a mild panic. Until he stopped to take care of some personal business. She grabbed ahold of his neck during this. Dad had gotten out of the car with the leash to help, but she picked his 70 lb body up awkwardly. They thought all was good. BUT mom knew better. She watched in horror as Charlie yelped, tried to bite, and was set down to get a better grip on him. She told Dad to help, but Charlie made good another escape. He went up the stairs, as everyone visibly relaxed, and then kept going down the handicap ramp on the other side, at a full jog.

Mom leapt out of car grabbing leash dad left behind, ran to the driver side and jumped in. Dad and the care worker went off after the escapee. One at a run, the other at a speed just over an amble.

Mom meanwhile, with the idea she would head the dog off at the pass with the car, took off and got stuck trying to make a left on a very busy street during peak rush hour traffic. Managing to finally get going, she drove mych slower than the speed limit and passed Dad going into a condo parking lot. Going to the next light and turning into a highschool parking lot, she turned around and sped BACK to where she last saw Dad. As she made her way down the street she caught sight of Dad going down some stairs and she turned. She rushed to the other side of the building and watched in helpless horror as she saw Charlie, the littl git, run pass the pool, and into a bit of wilderness. She called him, and was ignored. Then she witnessed a 4 point buck run out of cover, but no dog. She then spots Dad coming and points out where she last saw him going and told him he may be chasing a deer.

10 min later, no dog, no deer, no care giver, no luck. The only thing coming out was Dad. He heard him, but couldnt find him. Mom and Dad spent a good 30 minutes looking for said git. But no. He couldnt be found.

So Dad in his infinite wisdom decided he needed to precede to work as he was already late. We called the daycare to let them know we hadnt found him. And even though it felt wrong, mom drove him 20 minutes away to work. During the ride, Dad informed Daughter of the situation.

She was on her way out the door from work before Mom could turn back around to look more before her dr. appointment. Laws were broken. No, I wont say exactly how fast she drove in the 65mph zone during rush hour, but lets just say a 20 min ride didnt take nearly that long. Both mom and Daughter arrived back to the day care at exactly the same time, which meant there was more than one law breaker here. For the next 35 minutes, both looked and called for the wandering dog, worrying he may have left the area or gotten hurt to no avail.

They widened the search area but time was against them. An hour and 30+ minutes after the beginning of his break for freedom, comforted by the fact Daughter was still looking, mom made the tough decision to go to the drs. (He was a new dr and she was afraid to cancel after they had made an appointment the day before for emergency reasons.)

On the phone with her daughter as she drove away, (hands free because mom cannot drive with a phone in her hand. Dont ask, it sits on her chest, and she puts it on speaker.) She almost swerved off the road when Daughter gasped and cried out "oh no". Thinking that the worst did indeed happen, she could only listen in horror. Then, through the phone, she could hear daughter calling to the dog to get in the car. Thank the Lord above. He was wet, muddy covered in burrs. Clearly he had gone for a swim. But he had been found. As mom drove off to her appointment, she asked where he was, and she was told he was exactly where she had been not 5 minutes before, where they had been looking since the beginning, all while worried someone would call the police for a suspicious car driving slowly through the neighborhood over and over as kids were getting in line at bus stops. He was walking down the middle of the road with a red leaf on his back which daughter at first thought was blood.