House Guest Woes

We've had a house guest for the past 12 days. His name is Mackie, and he's about 9 months old. He's my parent's child - and was entrtusted unto our care while they spent their 40th anniversary in Maui.

By and far, this little wire haired fox terrier has been a joy. As Dad says, "It's hard to stay in a bad mood when Mackie's around". Sydney and him get along swimmingly (particularly after he stopped mounting her at every turn....) and he absolutely loves the attention from the kids. He is a bit of a yapper - not used to neighbors out where he lives, but is so willing to please he stops when you telling him sternly not to.

We'd settled into a nice routine, send the dogs outside, let them play and get dirty - bring them in the garage (the holding bay) until they dry off, bring them inside to play and repeat. All was going perfect until Mackie didn't come in yesterday with Sydney to go into the garage. I had heard some concerning sounds earlier, so I had a suspicion.... yes, indeed, Mackie had dug a hole under the fence and had gotten trapped in our elderly backyard neighbor's enclosed yard. Apparently, the hole was worthy of going through, but not returning through..... I ended up digging it a little deeper and retrieved the little guy - thankful the hole was dug on the last day of his captivity under our care. I then replaced the
hole with a big rock and packed dirt around it..... Just in case.

Soon after, Dad called. They had had an amazing time - he was recounting the 2 hours they spent on the "mini-yacht" of some friends in which a number of whales had circled and played around the boat. Mom was in tears several times, they said it was so amazing, 12 foot wide tails splashing next to the swim deck, watching their eyes, having them turn to lay on their backs - the whales were as enchanted with the boat and their presence as they were with them. If you know my mom, wow - it doesn't get much better in life than to experience that. With all of that said, however, they still turned down the offer to stay a few more days - for many reasons, but Mackie being a big one. I was so THANKFUL I could report he was safe and sound.

Until...... I returned home again and found him missing from our yard - and no where to be found in the neighbor's. Panic.... He's got great ID tags, but the phone number is to my parent's house - of little help to us when they are gone. We started going door to door when oddly, a stranger down the street asked if we were missing a dog, described Mackie, and told us he could be found at the house around the corner..... That house? You mean the one that has three of Brayden's basketball buddies all playing out front? Sure enough, one of our basketball moms had safely contained little Mackie in her backyard. God was looking out for us. (And, Mackie was looking out for cats....which was the reason he felt the need to escape....)

I carried him all the way home and called Dad's cell on the way - no use having him worry for nothing at the 2 messages regarding a lost dog on his machine when he arrived home at 11pm last night. And, since then, the playtime outside has been eliminated from the options. With Dad due to pick him up sometime this morning, we aren't taking any chances now......