Thursday, August 25, 2011

The queen of multi-tasking abdicates her throne

There's been a little excitement going on at the 7MSN. Click here if you need to catch up on the most recent snake relocation and creepy-crawly ant-hill discovery.

Once the snake was moved and I had stopped swatting ants off my legs, it was a welcome relief to go back in the house to finish writing the turtle post I'd been working on. A half hour later and with the post finally finished, it was time to take Smooch for her walk. I gathered up my stuff, went outside, and had a heart attack.

The backyard gate was wide open and there was Smooch, hunting rabbits.


When the queen of multi-tasking was moving the snake and taking pictures for blog fodder,
she had broken the cardinal rule of ranch-living: close the gate behind you. 

The queen: When will I ever learn?!
Her loyal subjects: Off with her head!




When Smooch gets loose, she goes feral. There's no other way to describe it.
She does not hear me calling her and she will not stop or come or sit or stay. I am dead to her.


She will run and hunt and run and hunt until she finds a rabbit. All I can do is try to keep her in my sights and pray that she either:
1) steps on a cactus and stops to pull it out of her paw, giving me time to run over and grab her;


2) sticks her head down a rabbit hole and starts digging, giving me time to run over and grab her; 


or 3) runs back to the porch for a drink of water, giving me time to slam the gate shut and run over to hug her 
and drop to my knees to give thanks that she's safe. Which she finally did after an agonizing 45 minutes the other night...
when the coyotes were howling and it was too dark to see her any longer.


43 comments:

  1. Yikes ... when Smooch makes up her mind to go bunny hunting, she's serious! 45 minutes ... I'd be having the BIG ONE by then, especailly with coyotes howling in the background!

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  2. Meant to say that I like your drawings of Smooch on the run ... it's a good likeness of her. LOL

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  3. Smooch is a funny pooch.
    Stay home, Smooch.
    Stay safe.

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  4. Fortunately smoochs excursion has a happy end. Gray hair... who counts? Cheers!

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  5. They live to run after others. :-) Rowdy needs a beer almost daily!

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  6. I had wondered why she was always on a leash ---

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  7. What? Only 10 gray hairs? I would have had 10,000! Honestly, our dogs drive us NUTS! There was a bloodhound up on the Rim who got loose from his family and ran loose for about a week! He was skin and bones when somebody found him and brought him to the ranger station. They called the number on his tag, but got no answer. He survived BEARS and mountain lions. Poor thing. He was in bad shape. Hubby immediately went over to him because he had a bloodhound as a kid! I'm so glad Smooch came back and is safe and sound!

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  8. Estella from Co.8/25/11, 6:10 AM

    So glad to see she came home all safe and sound. You sure she doesn't have a little hound in her. ha ha ha

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  9. So glad she's back! I know the feeling of relief.
    Is it the stars? My cat (indoor cat) got out the other day and after 6 hours with night coming I was beside myself. That's the understatement of the year! I didn't have any sightings to give me a glimmer of hope. And then a neighbor call with a sighting and I was finally able to cat wrangle him (my cat, not the neighbor) into my car and home! Phew!

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  10. I am well over multi tasking myself. It never did work for me anyway.
    Great story, Carson and I'm glad the ranch hand is back.
    Best always, Sandra

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  11. Smooch looks irritatingly happy. Glad all turned out o.k.

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  12. I love your little drawings of her antics. Glad she's back, safe and sound. My Sandy runs after coyotes all the time- Smooch would probably be fine.

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  13. Well, that explains why you have to leash her when she goes out.

    Bummer.

    If she would get that "recall" down, she could have unlimited space and rides with you and Miss Lucy.

    Sigh. Glad you are safe. Both of you. :)

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  14. What? Smooch likes hooch? What a girl.

    I have to say, this has taught me to keep a careful eye on your tweets. As suggested, I checked out "Martha" to see what she had to say about her donkeys. I was so intent on the "donkey" part that I didn't really examine the "Martha" part until I got to the "stable manager" part. What??? What kind of donkey blogger has a stable manager?

    Oh. It's that Martha.

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  15. Whew, thankfully she didn't take off in a straight line to parts unknown. So scary for you, so much fun for Smooch.

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  16. Hmmmmmmm, maybe mom and smooch need a visit from the dog whisperer ;-)
    very glad she is safely back at home.

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  17. You poor thing... 45 minutes!! Love the Smooch drawings!

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  18. I'm so glad that Smooch returned for a drink. I KNOW what you are going through as we seem to have Smooch's cousin here. Tucker turns deaf the minute he is outside the fence.... and now we live by a busy road. Shudder!

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  19. Glad she came back to you, that would be scary.

    Training Tip : Take a long light weight rope and attach it to her with a choke collar. I used a basic flat nylon lunge line. Take her out and let her think she has all the room in the world to run. Call her back to you and when she dosen't respond quickly turn and walk briskly in the other direction until she hit the end and is forced to fellow. Also without warning turn and walk briskly the other way. This will teach them to keep there eye on you. I taught a bull headed Wolf/Mal cross in the matter of 20 minutes, plus a few refresher courses over the years and to this day he dosen't run off. He used to bolt the door and be gone into traffic.

    Barbara

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  20. I had an austrailian shepard mix that would do the same thing. Get out and he was gone. But he would go after the local free range cattle and they would all take off and be gone for hours! I was so afraid he would be shot. Smooch is one tired but happy dog in the video!

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  21. Oh gosh your drawings of Smooch dashing about are so funny but my goodness I'd have had a heart attack with Smooch being out and the coyotes close by.
    But I thought it was "beer for my horses", not dogs....did Hank complain??????

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  22. Holy cow! I hate that feeling. Those 45 minutes must have felt like days. So glad Smooch decided she needed a drink of water and everything turned out okay. That is except for aging a couple of years in just 45 minutes!

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  23. It seems to funny that a dog so devoted to you, becomes magically deaf if she gets out. I can imagine how frightened you were. Soooo glad you had a happy ending!

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  24. I fell your pain. Loki is the same way only he darts from house to house b/c he knows where the neighbors keep the cat food and dog food. He has given me so many gray hairs I now have to color my hair.

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  25. Please lower the computer so she can read this:

    Smooch! Bad girl! Sit! Stay!

    (frankly this doesn't work for our beagle mix either. He'll look right at us, then turn to pursue... his interests)

    Glad she's home.

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  26. Such a treat to stop in. A well-deserved beer by all!

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  27. The older I get, the more difficulty I have with multi-tasking. I'm so glad Smooch's little escapade had a happy ending.

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  28. My dog Shay is the same way. Put him in a field of sheep and he's off! Directionals? Who need's em? Just a straight line to the closest fence. Then stampeding back at me.

    Sigh.

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  29. I got a good laugh at your Smooch drawings! I guess you'll be stpping by the walmart for hair color on your next trip to town. So glad she's back safe and sound!

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  30. One of my girls is like that too! Feral is the only way to describe her.

    Her big trick is to find different spots in the 5-6' fence around the yard to climb. One minute she is there then POOF she is over the fence and in with the horses or chasing the barn cats.

    I feel for you.... the waiting game kills!

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  31. I'm so glad she's safe.

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  32. Glad she's home safe and sound after her little adventure. I know it's a horrible feeling when you can't find them at night. Coyotes make it even scarier.

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  33. If it's not funny to you quite yet, I promise the laughter's begun in Canada.

    LOVE the artistic intrepretation of doggy-on-the-loose.

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  34. I wonder...and am only wondering, not suggesting you do this...if you had another dog that was really good at recall, if Smooch would follow it and come back. Or if they'd both run off.

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  35. Too funny, now that it is over and she is safe and sound (although soundness of mind does not seem to go with the suddenly deaf routine). Similar to her running lickety split for no reason by corral routine :)

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  36. So, you are worried the coyotes will get her? Is that the only danger or are their other wild critters you worry about...? Did she catch a rabbit... is that why she finally came back?

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  37. My pointer runs off like that. I once sent the lab after the pointer but failed to tell the lab to bring him back. So both were gone.

    Glad smooch made it back with no harm. She needs a place where she can run like the wind.

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  38. I also wondered why Smooch is always on a leash and I also am now enlightened!

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  39. now i understand why she is always leashed or seat-belted! yikes!

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  40. Sedona is the same way. If the gate gets stuck open and she escapes... she's history. If you call her, she'll turn and look at you so you know she heard and then she just keeps on going. Fortunately, she is getting old and gimpy so sometimes I can catch her - but not always. So annoying! (and heart attack giving)

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  41. 45 minutes??? Wow, I bet you were worried sick. Are you sure Smooch isn't part Greyhound?

    So glad she finally gave up and headed inside for a nightcap!

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  42. I also have an (exasperating, loveable) red heeler mix and when she was younger, the ONLY way I could get her to come to me was to pretend that I had 'found' something.

    Ever since she was a puppy, whenever I wanted her to notice something really interesting (a mouse, bug, etc,) I'd say, "Annie, LOOK!" in an excited voice and point down at the object of interest. So whenever I'm out in the field with Loose Bad Dog, I'll say, "Annie, LOOK!"...maybe even dig a little hole with my hands for greater effect...and this trick never failed me.

    LOL at your drawings!

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