Believe it or not, this little dog can be quite a trouble-maker at times. Usually, she is the perfect dog. We honestly can't complain. But when she pulls a stunt, it's typically a big one. She likes her freedom. She's been known to roam the neighborhood, nose to the ground, lost in the plethora of smells. However, she always finds her way home.
We lost her a few times when we lived in Farmington. It usually happened whenever I let her out and forgot about her. Since we didn't have a fence, she would just start exploring. Neighbors would bring her home or we would go out back and call her and she'd come sprinting back up the hill. We only ever really "lost" her once. A quick drive around the neighborhood in a frenzied panic solved that nerve-wracking scare. We came home with ninja securely in the back seat clueless as to her crime.
I have to give her a lot of credit. The move has been hard for her. She misses her big back yard with all the squirrels and bunnies it contained that she could chase at will. For the past 6 months she was stifled by the constraints of apartment living. Whenever she had to go potty, we had to take her out on a leash. She could no longer go sit on her back patio and gaze longingly at the woods, keeping an eye out for her nemesis, the squirrel or just lay there, basking in the sun on a warm day. We kinda upset her applecart.
So now that we're in the new house she feels a bit entitled to some freedom. Who could blame her? You can tell she's happy again. She's back to her old self. Unfortunately though, we have no grass or fence in our backyard...yet. We do have a lovely large open green space behind our house. However, she has to cross the dirty, muddy backyard to get there for her hygiene needs every single time.
This makes neither her, nor any of us who have to clean her feet each time, happy. So oftentimes, we let her out back and sort of forget about her until she barks at us from the deck. It was this scenario that led to me loosing her for the first time at the new house.
I let her out, got busy doing things around the house and then realized it was past time to go pick Chloe up from school. I rushed out of the house. As I was backing out of the driveway, I see a black dog in my rearview mirror. I think to myself, "Hmmm, that dog looks an awful lot like Ninja." This wasn't the first time I saw a dog at that construction site, believe it or not. Some workers bring their dogs with them. But then it dawned on me, "oh no! I never let Ninja back in. That's Ninja!"
I quickly put the car in park, ran out into the driveway and started calling Ninja from across the street. She was in no particular hurry to reach me. She was enjoying her exploration adventure. But I had no time for her to dilly dally. I'm already late picking up Chloe. I express my frustration with myself and her with the ever encouraging emphatic yelling of, "NINJA, GET OVER HERE NOW!" She obviously is now aware that I mean business and her joyride is over. She didn't look too happy to see me.
So she starts sauntering across the street. Two cars are parked in front of my house blocking my view down the street. Unbeknownst to me there is a minivan backing up down the street on a collision course with Ninja right in front of my house. It all happened in slow motion. Once the minivan comes into view I see Ninja 6 feet from its wheels. I run out into the street between the car and Ninja waving my arms wildly and yelling, "STOP! STOP!" Ninja unknowingly continues her saunter reaching our driveway in the nick of time. The lady behind the wheel stops and looks at me warily. She starts to roll down her window being as I'm still in the middle of the street and blocking her from her continued reverse position. I say, "Sorry, there was a dog in the middle of the street." And she looks at me blankly. I then realize she doesn't speak English. I say, "perro" as if that one word will explain everything. She just rolls her window back up and continues her backward quest.
I quickly analyze the situation with Ninja. Her feet are caked in mud from all her adventuring around construction sites for the past 30 minutes. I have no time to clean her feet (it takes about 15 minutes). I instruct her to sit in the middle of the garage while I lower the garage door. She looks forlorn. She knows her adventuring has come to an end and this is her punishment - being stuck in the garage with mud on her feet til I get back. What a way to end a fun day.
