Baloo's great escape..

Part one of probably many more to come.. 

So yesterday, as I am getting ready to leave the house to go have lunch with my cousin Licia and my mom, Baloo decided to have me chase him for over half an hour all through our neighborhood.  Usually whenever we leave the house, we put Lady and Baloo in their crates so they (and by they I mean Baloo) don't destroy or eat anything (furniture, garbage, etc) while we are gone.  The last step in my "out the door routine" is letting the dogs out into the yard so they can do their thing. Well Baloo has a new bad habit of digging holes under the fence and escaping through them.. We have covered his old holes, but he keeps making new ones.  He clearly had a new hole that we hadn't covered because we ran out of things to cover it with! He was outside for less than a minute, and I know that because I had just put a bottle in the microwave to heat up some water for 1 minute.. before the timer beeped Lady was already barking that Baloo had gotten out. 

Sigh..



I grabbed his favorite treats, Beggin' Strips, thinking that would lure him back into the house like last time.. WRONG! 

I know better than to run after him because the more I run, the faster he runs! I followed him, calling him, shaking the treats at him, trying to get him to come to me.. After 10 minutes I start getting nervous.  He's not coming back. He continues to trot down the street and look back at me every time he marks something new, kind of like "ha ha bitch, you're never going to catch me".  

After about 15 minutes I start to get really scared that I'm really never going to catch him and start imagining the phone call to Nery letting him know that I lost Baloo.  

And I start crying hysterically and screaming after Baloo.

As I am jogging behind my dog, there is a man, driving from house to house, putting his business cards into all the mailboxes.  I asked, well begged, for help and he actually got out of his car and Baloo went right on up to him!! The man started petting my a-hole dog and I was FINALLY able to grab him and carry him home.  Except that after 2 minutes of me holding him, Baloo didn't like it and started wiggling in my arms and I dropped him.. FML

Now I start getting really hysterical..

I continued to chase him, crying, yelling, and jogging. He runs into the street and my heart stops because there are cars coming and in my head I saw him getting hit by a car.. Thankfully he found his way back to the side walk.

On our adventure we passed a house where two boys (maybe 7 and 10 years old) were playing in front of the house and they started following me to help me catch Baloo. The boys cornered Baloo, and the little whore that he is, he lay down on his back for the boys to pet him and rub his belly!!!! I think it was their mom who followed us in her car and she offered us a ride back to the house so I wouldn't have to try to carry him and possibly lose him AGAIN! The woman who gave us a ride home was telling me how her puppy got out of her yard about 2 weeks ago and she has yet to find it. She said she knew how scared I must have been and couldn't not help me! 

There are many things to be thankful for in this story:
First, the handyman who stopped his car to help me get Baloo the first time. 

Second, the mom and her boys who helped me catch him the second time and helped me get home.  I wish I knew their names so I could send them something as a thank you.  I will be keeping my eyes open for her puppy so I can hopefully return the favor.  

And third,  my roommate, who is Nery's cousin, for being home.  Had she not been home I would have had to make a decision between Baloo and Sofia and that is not a choice I would have wanted to make.  There is no way I could have chased Baloo with Sofie in my arms, and I cannot imagine having left her in the house, alone (well with Lady) for about 45 minutes. 

I'm happy I have my dog home, but now I want to kill him myself for putting me through all of that! 

Frank M. Rodriguez Photography

** sigh **

xxoo