Day Two: 'See Luke Run', 'Good Boys Do Bad Things'... and Other Tails of Horror

It all started with the little door incident yesterday. And now for some reason today, 'Mama' is hell bent on my demonstration of restraint when she opens a door. We worked on all three doors, and eager to redeem myself... I sat patiently.

Thus commenced Test #8: She decided to take the garbage out the front door.

Enough was enough, and I nearly knocked her to the floor, butted the door and then the garbage bag clean across the yard... and I was on my way!

First, I went to Aunt Susan's front door, but with the hurried footsteps of 'Mom' and her urgent calls... 'Luke, Luke, Luke... come, come, come'... Well, I decided to spice up life and treat the old gal to an adventure. I was OFF!

I was sniffing as much as I could sniff as I hurried along my way, weaving around from fence to front of house to fence to front of house... I looked back from time to time, to see 'Mom' running barefoot behind me. I sensed the restrained urgency in her voice... and I wagged my tail happily, to let her know, it's ok! It's an adventure!

We rounded the block and started up the other street. Mom made up for lost ground when I was momentarily distracted by a cat that I sent straight up a tree (poor thing, she's probably still up there). We both were panting heavily and eyed each other from opposite sides of that tree. Heck. I even grinned at her... to let her know what a joyous time I was having.

But then I dived under a boat and was on to the next yard. I looked back at Mom hopping over the hitch, and that's when I knew... it's time to go back home. So I doubled back. I couldn't resist checking on the cat one last time, and then I followed her scent up to her front door.

And that's where 'Mama' nabbed me, cornering me on the porch. I was wagging my tail still, but she was NOT pleased. She tightened up my new collar, and bent over... began to walk me slowly to the other side of the street, where a man was watching television in his driveway. (I thought... now I've seen everything... television in a driveway).

She asked the man if he had a rope or a leash that she could borrow. The kind man produced a rope that he tied in fine fashion around my collar, and told her it won't come loose cause that's how he ties up his boat. As we tried to gather our breaths, he also randomly pointed out both the white hairs on my face... and Mama's very bloody paws.

We slowly put out the embers as we retraced the steps of my blazing trail. And while it wasn't nearly as fun (the hobbling of the 'Mom', the tears and the utterances of sad stories, bad mamas and fears, and all), I wagged my tail the entire way.

Once home, though, she told me that my Aunts Karen and Madison and my Uncle Tom would be in their cars on their way over to take me back, if they knew this incident.

The old gal is really taking this hard, and I knew it was best if I found a mischief free zone to cool off and allow 'Mom' to clean, medicate and bandage her bloody paws. And I did just that.