How to make Mommy look Ridiculous 101
This little girl gave me quite a fright last night! (Hey! I'm a poet & didn't know it!  )
I was taking her & Beau out for "last call" about 10:30 p.m. Usually I don't take them together because they play instead of attending to their business. So...I should've known better, right? Beau was picking on Genevieve and she pulled away from him (and me) and right out of her collar!!  We were in our back yard, and she has run around it a few times freely while I was watching her chase a butterfly or something. She always runs in a circle and then comes back to me.
Well...not last night. She turned around and headed straight out of the yard!  I quickly put Beau back in the house, grabbed her collar (leash still attached) and took off running after her.
To fully appreciate this, you need to know that I had just had a shower, so my hair was wet, I was in my nightgown and wearing my "yard" tennis shoes. So, there I am, running through my neighbor's yard calling out "Genevieve...come back here! Here Genny!"
She makes a full circle around the neighbor's house and heads back toward me. Great! I think, she's coming! Psych!! She just ran past me and around my house again (yes...I'm still following her calling to her).
By this time, the neighbor's across the street have turned on their porch light and their dogs are barking. So, Gen decides to head over there and investigate.  I'm still huffing and puffing behind her calling to her but I can't catch up and she heads up the street running as fast as four feet can carry her.
When I finally got her, two houses up and across the road, she comes to me (after leaping away several times to tease me ) and just sits down in front of me, calmly, and looks up at me as if to say "What, Mom??? I was just having some fun!" 
I put her leash on her and walked her home (neighbors all outside now, watching the chase!). She goes right into her crate and turns around and gives me a kiss! The most frightening part was about 15 minutes later when I realised that if she had gotten away from me completely, she is NOT microchipped. Without her collar, there would have been no way for someone to reach me. Scared me to death! I'm out of town the rest of this week and she & Beau are being boarded. But, you can bet that when I get back the first thing I'm doing is taking them both to get microchipped!! Lesson learned!! |
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| They always seem to know when it's time to suck up.
The neighbors were at least having a good show. LOL |
| Did you try: "Wanna go for a ride?" Or actually yell "Let's go for a ride!" (or your usual phrase) and head for the car?
Or the "Emergency Down" command? (For us, it's the "Sit!" command.) By the way, I talk a good game. Two days ago a young (18?) girl was walking on our street and I didn't have the leash on for 2 seconds, and off runs Mulligan. I screamed: "Mulligan, Sit!" Mulligan continues on to the girl, gets an ear rub, and then comes back to me. Well, it was almost a sit. 
I'm glad you got everything under control. I only wish that... . . . . . . . . I was one of your neighbors LOLOLOL |
| What a sight that must have been Sounds like she had a late night sheepie spaz moment..... |
| Been there done that with my Boxers. Glad to hear Genevieve finally came back. Sounds like she thought it was a game.
With my Boxers, Mother and Son took off down the sidewalk and into my complex, while I was walking them off leash in my backyard with my Pomeranian. I had to run back and put the pom inside. Neither Boxer had ever ran away before alone. But together they were trouble. Petey took off and his Momma follwed. I ran around my complex twice... In a Nightgown, slippers and winter jacket..this was in NY. No sign of them... So I get into my Jeep and head down the main road I get about a 1/4 mile down the road and a car flashes it's lights at me and my heart sank. I thought I was going to find them both dead on the road. Instead I round the bend and both dogs are running down the middle of the road back towards me and the house. I stopped the car and screamed GET IN THE CAR!!! I literally picked both of them up one at a time with one hand and threw them into the car... Adrenaline was running. That was the only way I can explain plucking two 60 lb dogs up and into a jeep. The dog we had when I was a teenager, Baxter a cockapoo, was easy to catch... Just get in the car and say want to go for a ride. It was pointless chasing him because he thought we were playing with him. One night a police officer had stopped at the house while Baxter had gotten out, to ask questions about vandalism at the school down the street. He had left his car door open and guess who was sitting in the front seat waiting to go for a ride when he returned to his car. How embarrassing!! Elissa |
| Yes....very embarassing! But, you're right, at least the neighbors got a good laugh!
Ron, I wish I had had the presence of mind to think of an emergancy down command. My bad, I haven't really worked on one with her yet. We've worked on sit, down, and heel, but I haven't concentrated on any emergency situations. I guess I need to work on that - and RECALL!  |
| That used to be Lucy's signature move-- the run away and tease. Not to mention all bets are off when she's in off leash-free mode. No command is even listened to then. I feel your pain. I, too, have been the fool. Then again, who am I kidding? I'm a fool for more reasons than the dogs! |
| Norman is usually off leash because he's 12, where's he going? Tonight I got a phone call from my husband that ended up being a play by play of him chasing Norman down the street. It really wasn't a chase, Norman was trotting and just keeping far enough in front of Bob to stay out of reach. I'm sure the neighbors had a good laugh when the "parade" went by! |
| Barney ran off once when I was doing a recall with him off leash in a shopping center parking lot. Rather than chase him, I ran the other way and he ran right after me. Never chase a dog; it invites him to play games with you. |
| Last night, for our 'last call' I opened the door for Barney to go outside. Barney doesn't mind going out and being by himself outside, but he likes an audience to watch him conduct his business. Well, last night it was very stormy out (more lightning and thunder than rain, at least at that moment) and so I just decide to let him go out and do it alone. Well, Barney proceeds to play and eat twigs and pine needles and has no intention of this being 'last call'. So, after many flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder I head outside to accompany him. He just runs and runs around the yard. I approach, he runs. All the while you could almost feel the lightning it was so close.
Finally, he did his business and we got to go inside! GRRRR. |
| One day our chow got out of our yard. We had just moved into this house. I went to get her in and noticed the gate open. OH NO< panic...kids were home with the flu, I get all the kids in the van (I have 4 kids) and we go driving (did I mention it was SNOWING) around the neighborhood calling out the window for Chelsea. Where do I find her? On the next street sitting on the porch of a house that looks EXACTLY like ours > boy was I relieved! I open the van door and yell "Get in" and off we go back home. Whole time we are driving looking for Chelsea, the kids are bawling in the van. After that we got an automatic closer for the gate.
Second time...different dog... Merlin went to the groomer...he was badly matted. I said do your best but do NOT shave him. I said I will bring him back for 10 more appointments...I dont care...just DONT shave him! 5 hours later I get a call...she took him for potty and he got loose... he got loose because she SHAVED him and didnt adjust his collar to fit his now slimmer neck (what an idiot ) well we rush to the groomer and Merlin is nowhere to be found. We search for 4 days.(Snowing again...it is the middle of February) Post all kinds of flyers...even put in a full page ad in the paper. The day the paper was to come out we get a call. Merlin is found but he wont come to the guy who found him. I tell the guy GET SOME CHEESE...and sure enough he catches Merlin and we got get him and off to the vet to be checked. Poor guy had frostbite and the vet thinks he 'might' have been hit by a car or just grazed. Now Merlin is never out of our site and he still hates going into the car. We are just so thankful he was found and was ok. It was a horrifying experience. We all cried the whole time he was gone. |
Oh, Kim, what a story! I couldn't imagine not knowing where Drez was for 4 days! The groomer should not have charged you anything for her services, plus she should have helped you find her. 
In her younger days, Drez used to be a car chaser. We live out in the country and have no fence, so it's always been a challenge keeping tabs on her. She's slipped out of her collar on occasion and taken off down the street! Luckily, since we are rural, our street is not well traveled. Now that she's my gimpy old girl, these antics are mere memories. Thank God!! Chris |
| 4 Days!!! Wow... I'm glad you found him! Danita cried all day because we took Lennon to the vet and he had to stay there for 2 days... I can imagine how sad you were.
Sofa gave a scare like that the other day. When I go out stargazing I let them out with me, since our house is inside a fenced park area, so I know they can run freely and smell the neighbor's yards and they have nowhere to run away. Suddenly she saw a dog walking by the street and before I could do anything she bolted and squeezed between two bars from the fence, then headed for an undeveloped piece of land behind our house and dissapeared in the bushes. Luckily I saw on what direction she headed and ran after her. I kept on calling her and she returned all happy because she chased the dog away. The whole ordeal took less than 5 minutes, but the whole time I was thinking what's the lightest I could pack and which way I was going to run away when Danita found out she bolted on me like that and I could not find her.... phew! Now I'm more careful and they stay inside if I go out looking at the stars. |
| Thanks for sharing your stories! It really does help me feel better! I'm very glad everyone's stories have had a happy ending. These guys sure keep us on our toes! |
| Glad to Genevieve is okay!
Makes me laugh though because it reminds me of one of Madison's romps. We got home from our 2 legged kid's marching band competition around 1:30 am, ugh! I let both furbabies out so they can go, they were about 14 weeks old. Madison took off running huge circles around our very dark yard. After passing me twice, I am starting to think this is not funny anymore and I hear a huge SPLASH!!!! I run over to our lovely Koi Pond to find a little sheepdog tangled in the fishing line we have strung across to keep the Blue Herrons from getting our fish. She was so pathetic looking. I get her out and I swear she looked embarrassed as she walked back to the house. It is always fun to come home exhausted, late at night and have to give a little Sheepie a bath because she fell in the stinky water.
I had to laugh though, she just looked too funny sitting there stuck in the water. At least now I know that I am not the only one with a crazy sheepdog! Have a nice night, Eric |
| Thanks for the laughs everyone! No matter how careful I try to be, there's always something...I was off of work the other day and noticed my neighbor across the street and made the mistake of opening the door an inch to yell hello. Annie jumped up so quickly and pushed her way out the front door, down the steps, and across the street. Meanwhle I'm yelling at her, scared to death that a car will come by at that very moment. My neighbor starts running towards Annie to grab her collar. He pets her and she immediately turns back around to run home. As if to say, "hey Mom, I found Bob". As if I didn't know... |
| Hi Stacy,
Oh poor you, as I can imagine the fright you must have had! Annie sounds like a friendly girl however! Kim, I remember when your Merlin dissapeared and how relieved we all were when you were reunited with him. Tsk Tsk Genevieve! Glad to hear she was alright too! Silly sheepie! Marianne and the boys |
| Several years ago a sheepdog being transported to a new home escaped along a busy freeway. For days people tried to lure the dog back into a car, but no go. Finally someone thought to call the first owner to ask if the dog had a call that it always responded to. The owner said, "Try DQ." Seems the magical letters meant all were going for ice cream cones. The next day the rescuers saw the dog running away and yelled, "DQ!" Sure enough the dog did a big circle, came running to the rescuers car and hopped in.
Moral: have a never fail call word. LOL, better said than done. Our first sheepdog would have crossed the Grand Canyon had she heard the letters "DQ". So far "cookies" work well enough, except with the Great Pyrs. They are deaf when they are on the loose. And yes, get that microchip...and while collars to mess up the fur, consider something more permanent or at least tighter. Simone does the best with a halter whenever she is out of the yard. |
We too watch our Jules like a hawk since she jumped over the fence at 7 month (due to fireworks) and ran 1 1/2 miles away. She was gone for 24 hours and we were scared to death. I don't think she would ever run that far since she is not a small puppy anymore, but she still loves to be chased. If she slips outside without her leash we have to run the opposite direction. If we charge her to grab her she thinks it is a game and wants to be chased. We have enticed her with cheese so much that when she is in the backyard she will actually sit at the back steps and wait for a piece of cheese before she comes in. This was not what we meant to do but it works if we are desperate. She is too smart, but very stubborn. Let me tell you though....those sheepies will MOVE for food.  |
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