A Marley and Me Kinda Day

I've been admiring Kami's blog, and since today I have a story to tell, I decided it's time to take a page from her book and start writing again.

And so begins the Adventures of Aspen...

As many of you know already, our little girl has been learning new tricks lately. Two weeks ago, she learned to jump over the fence in the backyard, much to our chagrin. Still, as resourceful and encouraging parents, we set out to solve the problem. We thought we'd found a solution when we purchased a dog run with taller walls. So, naive and still hopeful as we were, we put her in the dog run this morning, locked the gate, and headed off to work...

Re-enter the scene many hours later. I come in the house and notice right away that the dog in question is laying on the back patio, taking an all-too-innocent nap, nowhere near the dog run. Upon investigation, the gate to the dog run-in is still locked and there are no holes under the fence for possible escape routes. Hmm...

Still, trying to be positive, I don't worry about this too much and head off with her to the dog park. At the dog park, we're playing and loving the other dogs, until she sees another dog she wants to play with. The catch....this dog is on the outside of the fence, so before I can stop her, over she goes, and she's off into the non-dog portion of the park. Picture me, still in work skirt and top--shoes not made for running--racing across the grass shouting at my escapee dog. But, oh...it gets better yet...

There's a giant temporary overflow pond not far from where she goes over the fence, and she proceeds to frolic in the pond with the other dog for 20 minutes getting soaked! It gave me time to catch up with her, but I couldn't get her out of the water for 20 minutes. The pictures are from my cellphone. Then, we had to go home to a bath because she smelled like pond water as does the wet back part of my car! And, she lost her tags somewhere between the pond and home.

You'd think the day would be over here, but oh no...She's trying to rival Marley in the category of troublesome puppy today. When we get home from the dog park, we notice that she has completely torn out several parts of the front flower bed during her day out, leaving the bodies of dried and withered flowers strewn in every direction. Plus, who knows how long she rampaged through the neighborhood before returning home today. Our theory is that she played in the neighborhood until a concerned, and as yet anonymous neighbor, found her and kindly brought her home and put her in the backyard. Otherwise, it doesn't seem like she would have jumped back into security. But, who knows!

Still naive and hoping beyond believe that maybe it's still not possible, we put in the dog run again and test our theories. Mike leaves the yard and heads next door while she's in there. I stand at the window unseen and watch what happens, video camera in hand. It doesn't take long to discover that she's not just jumping the fence, she's climbing it. See attached evidence.

So now, disillusioned and frazzled parents are heading to bed. Did I mention that Aspen has been crashed out napping for the last couple hours. She had a busy day!