Cheddar

Monday the princess was asking, for the millionth time, why she can't have a dog. I finally said, "It's not that I don't want a dog. I'd love a cute little Trixie dog (the king's sister's dog), but a small dog would get out of our fence. Plus your dad doesn't want a dog, and that's just something we need to agree on." She said, "A big dog wouldn't get out of the fence (the back fence is split-rail)." "No dog," I said.


Maybe it was serendipity, but yesterday, the kids rode their bikes to a nearby park. They passed the golf course and saw a big yellow dog (lab maybe?) playing in a water trap. Of course, the dog followed them around! Then they came home and later saw the dog across the street. They had lunch and then headed over to the lake to play on the playground there, and who should they find on the way home, but the yellow dog. Hmmm....

The princess came in the house, got some paper, and came back a minute later. "We found that dog again. He's in the garage. He name is Cheddar. He's got tags and here are the numbers on the tags. What should we do?"

So I called the numbers--4 of them. First number, not in service. Second number, "No. We don't have a dog. Where do you live? Huh? Well I live about 20 miles from you. Not our dog." Third number, I left a message: "We have your dog, but I don't know how long he'll stay. Call us." Fourth number, no answer.

The kids took the dog to the back yard. Found a tennis ball. Got him a bowl of water. He really just wanted to come in the house and cool off, but I was having none of that. (He did seem like a very nice dog, though.) Then they played with him. Soon the princess comes in, "Can I spray him off? He's hot." "No. He'll drink the water if he's hot. He's tired of chasing you and that ball. Let him rest."

Five minutes later: "Can we feed him a cheese stick? (If the dog's name is Cheddar, he must like cheese.) "No. We don't know anything about this dog." "But he's hungry." "If he's still here at dinner time (I still wasn't sure he wouldn't go out the back fence, but so far he'd been happy to play) we'll go next door and ask for some food (they are vets and have 2 dogs), and then, if he's still here in the morning, we'll take him to the pound."

That's the exact moment when I broke my daughter's heart. I saw it on her face. It was pathetic! "We can't keep him. He's not ours, and his owners will come looking for him at the pound if they can't find him." "But you called them." "Yes, but we didn't have much luck with those numbers. They might be old numbers."

She went back outside. Not 5 minutes later the kids came tearing through the house. "Cheddar went through the back fence! He's chasing a rabbit (there's a pasture behind us). We're going to find him."

"Good luck," I whispered!

And that was the end of Cheddar. They spent a good 1/2 hour searching. But he was long-gone. Hmmm...turns out a big dog can get through the fence. Good to know. But it was kind of fun being dog owners for an hour!