ah the dirty dog

with all the activity and the cleaning/painting/primer fumes, mom and i've been propping open the front door and closing the gate on the porch to keep shaddow from roaming the neighborhood and dashing into traffic. despite our best intentions, she made a break for it. now, she's a big dog and could easily clear the railing on the porch with no problem (in fact, she could clear the fence on the side yard with ease, i'm sure); but she usually is a good girl and stays within her boundaries. but this afternoon, she pushed mom aside and charged out the gate into the wild! free! oh! the smells! the flowers! the plants! the other dogs! the animals! the trees! the frogs! the ev.ree.thing! oh!

thing is, if i chase her, it's like a big ole game to her and she takes off with no regard for where she is going, just wanting to play tag. so i don't move too quickly. i usually talk with her and move toward where she is heading slowly and steadily. sometimes, i can lull her and WHUMP! catch her but sometimes i cannot.

today was a cannot day. but since she was hanging toward the back part of the property and staying well away from the road, i wasn't too worried. i did follow her for awhile, but then i gave up and headed back to the house after i realized that we were heading away from the highway.

all thru the rest of the afternoon, she'd creep up and lurk by the front porch but then dash off if i even looked in her direction. she was so funny that it was hard not to snicker at her, as she loped off with her head turned to look at me over her shoulder. at one point, i thought she was gonna take a header right into the sheet metal side of the barn.

well, i got busy. mom got busy. and after awhile, shaddow decided it was time to come up on the porch again. but i wouldn't let her into the house cuz she had discovered the two ponds and oh! joy! freedom! swimming! my FAVorite!! yea!!! and then she found some mud and rolled around. oh! more fun! yea!! and then! she ran thru some weeds which left little pellet-like green buds all over her wet muddy coat! yes! smelly swampiness! oh! yes! the joy!!

a few hours later, i ventured out on the porch with her. she was dry by then, caked with mud and her fur was rather spikey. i brushed her out as much as i could and eventually let her come in for a bit. after all, since we're scrubbing everything else, whyn't give her a bath too?

whatta dirty dogg!