Our front and back yards and the field from the house to the road are completely fenced. The fence around the house is chain link, and field fence completely encloses the front field. The purpose of our fence is to keep the neighbors’ dogs out and our dogs in. It was a brilliant plan in theory.
Last week, I realized TJ was patrolling the front field alone. I whistled and called for Toby, then finally TJ and I walked to the road. Still no Toby. We keep our gate closed, so we aren’t overrun by wandering canines, but sometimes Toby gets it into his head to go visiting, and he jumps the four-foot fence.
TJ and I climbed into my Doggie Van, which other people might call a minivan, and I drove a mile down the road then turned around and drove two miles in the other direction, but the only dogs we saw were two old dogs that were enjoying the warmth of the sun. When TJ and I returned home, Toby was waiting for us on the front porch with his tail tucked.
He followed me into the house and spent the rest of the morning under the barstool. Evidently, Toby put himself in self-imposed Doggie Time Out, which was fine with me since I was still mad and wasn’t speaking to him.
Toby stayed in time out until FarmerMan came home and asked him if he was okay, which must have lifted the time out curse because Toby wagged and grinned with delight as he came out from behind the bars.
How’s that for a twist to the old standard, wait until your father gets home?
I love this story! I love that Toby knew he’d done wrong and let you know that he knew. What a smart dog! And I laughed at the twist, when he released himself from jail.