Rob and I arrange our weekend in order to indulge in our Sunday ritual which starts with putting our dogs, Emmie and Cosmo, outside and going back to sleep until they start barking, which can be anywhere from five minutes to a half hour. About 15 minutes into snooze time this morning, Emmie gives two sharp barks and then nothing... which instantly makes us nervous.
A little background to the oddity of this bark: Emmie and I have been together since I adopted her as a pup more than six years ago. When Rob and I married, we took Emmie to an adoption fair and allowed her to select a mate - she chose Cosmo. Cosmo promptly taught Emmie how to dig out of our fenced-in yard. The first time they escaped, it scared me so badly that I refused to let them out until Cosmo finally peed on the carpet. Lesson learned.
Escaping the yard became one of their favorite games. Mostly they would run to the front of the house and hang out in the driveway until we noticed them through a window and let them back in. Sometimes we spent an hour circling the neighborhood until the insistent barking of neighbor dogs directed us to them.
When one got out and the other stayed, the remaining dog (dubbed "our good dog" for the day) would let out some pointed barks or howls to alert us to its AWOL partner.
When we had patched the fence and filled holes until we had run out of spare paving stones, and just couldn't take the stress of the escapes anymore, we stapled electric fence to our wooden fence. The first training session scared Cosmo so badly that he again peed on the carpet, this time because he refused to go out. Talk about guilt...
He soon learned that the clicking sound meant take a step back and we have been without incident for an entire year... until this morning when, as it turns out, Emmie's barking was either a victory noise or her way of calling Cosmo a wuss for not following.
Fortunately, Emmie was an easy find this time, trolling the dirt road that runs behind our house. She eagerly, though with ears down in recognition of her naughtiness, got in my car. Cosmo cried the entire time she was gone.
The fact that we've spent the day laying guilt trips on Emmie goes on the list as the 53rd reason we should stick with dogs and cats - who are completely immune to guilt - instead of switching to those hairless pets people call children.
Is this how my mom felt when I snuck out at night?
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