Neighbors Have Your Back

My dog's name is Carter, otherwise known as Houdini. He is a dog by day, escape artist by night. When I first got him he figured out how to escape from his crate. So I locked up his crate with chains and came home one day to find him sitting on my bed. 

Since it was 68 degrees today, I let Carter play around in my fenced in backyard while I went out for a long run. I came back to find the fence gate wide open. My gate doesn't just open with a simple push, it requires a bit of cognition. There's a squeeze and push motion that dogs ARE NOT supposed to be able to figure out. Well, leave it to Carter, he figured it out.

I walked out to the street and a few of my neighbors told me that Carter had been running around the neighborhood. I must have bumped into 10 different neighbors who were all walking around the neighborhood trying to get him back. They were sharing their techniques which have worked in the past. My favorite technique is the 'Dog Bate' one. That entails borrowing a neighbors dog and walking the dog into my house as my dog runs by. Generally it works. Carter gets jealous and comes right in.

So after an 8 mile run, I continued running around on the hunt for Carter. Finally a neighbor who was walking her dogs offered to stand still. Carter, being a dog who likes to sniff other dogs, went up to the other dogs and said hi. I pretended I wasn't going to get him, and stood back for a few seconds. I then SNATCHED him up and carried my 52 lb dog back to my house. Halfway back a neighbor gave me their extra leash so I would be able to walk him.

To all of my neighbors. Thank You for being caring, thoughtful and helpful. Without you, Carter would be running around in the park while his mommy was stressing;)