He’s Like the Wind

This morning was one I never want to relive. As if last night wasn’t bad enough. I don’t think Baxter slept four hours last night, which made my night very unpleasant to say the least. But this morning might have topped it. My entire yard is fenced in – both the back yard and the front yard and Baxter can trot anywhere that he pleases. Well, that sneaky brat has lost his privileges and he doesn’t even know it yet. My family and I have nicknamed Houdini due to his ability to sneak through impossibly tight spaces. He also seems to be able to walk through closed doors, but that’s another story.

Baxter likes being outside. He’s an outside dog and with a fenced in yard, that’s fine by me because I can just open the door and he can go run around. This morning, he was scratching at the door so I let him out and he usually scratches on the door when he wants to be let back in. It’s our routine we have between us. He was out for about fifteen minutes but I wasn’t too concerned. The neighborhood kids catch the bus right in front of my house and Baxter was probably too hyper from playing with them to want to come back inside. I was about to blow dry my hair and for some reason, this strange dog loves the blow dryer, getting the hot air blown on his face, so I went outside to get him. I stood on my front porch, looking for him, calling his name. I heard his medals first before I saw him and then I spotted him – on the OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE - sniffing calmly at a pumpkin my neighbors have on their front porch.

Okay. Don’t panic, I told myself, moving ever so slowly. He saw me and wagged his tail and came trotting to me when I crouched down on the sidewalk and called his name. I took him in the house, my heart beating a mile a minute. I dried my hair, got dressed for work and then took him outside again. Baxter is a raptor. He remembers. I wanted to see how he got out and he showed me. He trotted right over to the small hole in the fence on the side of the house and slipped through it like it was nothing. This time, getting him back wasn’t so easy. He thought we were playing so he proceeded to run down the street. Thank god other people on the block have their yards fenced in because if they didn’t, he’d still be on the loose. I cornered him between a fence and a house a bit of the ways down from mine before trekking home with the brat raptor in my arms. I immediately called my mom at work and asked her to bring a chain with her when she and my dad come tonight to stay for the weekend.

That’s right Baxter. Not only am I fencing you in, but I’m also chaining you up!