Young Patches the wonder dog arrived here by chance one day not so long ago because she was interested in all the boy-dogs we have here. She liked the place so much she decided to stay.
However, she wasn't a very well-trained dog, despite being extremely friendly and definitely a people-person-dog, and she had to learn that fighting with the girl-dogs was not on (especially when it occured near my legs as it did on 2 occasions, with subsequent scratches to add to my mosquito-bite scars)
As we didn't want any little Patches to unexpectedly arrive, she was marched off to the V-E-T and at the same time began a course of injections that any canine has to endure.
And so it was that M was put on the driving schedule to take young Patches to the aforementioned vet last week for one such experience. He set off early, but returned not long after bemoaning the fact that he had 'lost the dog'...
It turns out that Patches, being nosy and also thin, had made the most of a crossroads STOP sign to take a leap out of the non-existent window on the bakkie and make a break for freedom, and despite his cries, M couldn't persuade her back in, and she was off across the wide open spaces for which S.A. is fabled...
So he called in the cavalry. ie ME. Well, in fact the car he was supposed to be using was booked out and taken off as soon as he came back so there was no option, but I'll go for the cavalry option instead! Those of you who know me well will know that my dog-handling experience is virtually non-existent (having spent much of my childhood running away from dogs or hiding from them behind sofas...) However I was keen to prove that I have changed in that department and off we went...
We drove back down to the scene of the break-out and got out of the car to start our search. No sign at the nearby shops. There was a wire fence around, but suddenly look, a break in the fence into a field and in the distance a housing estate... M yelled 'Patches!' and it was greeted by a distant woof... We set off immediately in the car for the housing estate...
On arrival we asked a local man if he'd seen our dog. He telephoned back to the place we'd just left and they confirmed that a dog matching our description had been detained over there. So we drove straight back to discover that not only is she friendly, but talented enough to throw her bark to the other side of a field...
She wasn't too happy about having a rope put round her neck and had to be lifted into the car with M sitting with her to calm her down. I drove as gently and yet as fast as possible home (to decrease the time window for any accidents inside the vehicle) and by the time we turned up the drive, Patches had worked out she was on familiar territory and she was back to her friendly and happy self and M was very relieved that he wasn't going to have to own up to losing an animal...
Alls well that ends well, and she's been round to thank me several times since with a wag of her tail and a lick on the hand...
(but she still had to endure the injections the following day!)
