Meet Prince! Take a long look because, in his case, a picture really may last longer....
Let's back up a bit....
About a week ago (not even quite a week yet!) I was perusing the Craigslist Pet section. Not that we were even looking for a new pet. Not that we even really wanted another dog. Yes, we had talked about it but quickly decided that, at this time, we don't want another dog.
Then I saw Prince, or Peanut at that time. He was so cute, and his story melted my heart. I've read numerous sad stories on the pet listings before, but I'd never thought about taking any of those animals home. However, somehow Prince just "spoke" to me. His story was such that his family was moving apart because of divorce. He was raised with two girls and they had pictures posted of him cuddling with this girls on the couch and giving them kisses. However because of the divorce, for some reason Prince (aka Peanut) was being left behind. :( He went to a friend's house who couldn't keep him, so she found another friend. This other friend had three dogs too many already and her husband said she had to find Prince a home very soon or he was going to be taken to the Humane Society. This poor little doggy lost his family already, I couldn't imagine him sitting in a kennel at the Humane Society for who knows how long....
Also, he fit our original "requirements" when we were discussing a second dog. We wanted a male, not a puppy but not too old, well-trained, and CALM. He is all of the above.
What a sweetheart he is! He's super calm and laid back. He loves cats and kids. He's perfect really....
Yes, there's always a BUT.
He is also an explorer and "mountain" climber. After the first day of having him, he got out of the fence a dozen times because the kids are used to leaving the gates open since Lady is trained to stay in the yard and she no longer tries to escape.
So we began closing the big outside gate too (that closes off the whole property from getting to the main road). We thought we had nipped this problem in the bud.
Today however, we almost lost him - TWICE.
First I noticed that Billy Jr was riding his bike in the driveway and I couldn't find Prince. Great. I run around yelling his name (which he doesn't come to yet since he still thinks of himself as Peanut). Finally I make sure the boys are secure in the yard and I run to the main road.
Yep. There he is. Cars honking and him dodging traffic. Great fun.
I catch him and bring him home. Angry, but very relieved.
Immediately Brayden and I get to work plugging up the hole he climbed out of. Which was actually a 5" gap between the house and the fence, which leads to a 4" ledge with a 20 foot drop to our driveway that slowly declines down to the ground. He had squeezed through this hole and then tiptoed down the ledge until it was close enough to the ground.
Celebrating our victory of catching him and plugging the hole, we walk back to the house to finish lunch.
The. Gate. Is. Open.
Billy Jr was playing with his tricycle again and left the gate open. I yelled a few "kid-friendly" swear words at that time (something like gosh DARN it I'm so flipping tired of this gosh darn dog getting out!).
We all go back to searching for him again. This time the big outside gate is closed though, so we should be good right?
No.
I run down to the main road again...not there.
I look around the house again to see if he's hiding. Not there.
Then I see the slope of firewood against the back fence that he probably climbed up on and jumped out over.
CRAP. Gosh DARN dog!
I debate whether its worth it to go track him down.
I decide it is.
So I load up the messy spaghetti-O faced babies and load them in the car. I circle the block....
And finally I find him, again. This time in a neighbor's yard. He happily jumps into the car like nothings wrong.
Yes I'm happy to have him back. Yes he's on doggy lock-down right now...supervised bathroom breaks outside only.
But I don't know how long this will last. I think we'll get him microchipped very soon. Although, then if he gets caught we'll just have to pay $100 to come pick him up each time.
Oh the joys!!!
Edited to add one more picture - Lady, our first dog, and Prince the new dog.
The names are supposed to be Arthurian - Lady Guinevere and Prince Arther. But we shortened them both to Lady and Prince. We had a Merlin too, but he sadly only lived a year. I posted about him in this blog a couple years ago I believe.
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