Michael Sheridan - Unleashed

I have a child with a motor impairment who struggles to open a door and close it again quickly after exiting.  I have a beagle who is an expert escape artist who will bolt through any door that is open for more than a few seconds, just to see why you’re going through.  He doesn’t always know what he wants to do on the other side, but it rarely involves coming straight back in. 

Today, the dog has made it out through the garage to find a bush turkey wandering across the driveway.

“Louie, get back here.” But, of course it’s useless to try. 

The turkey jumps, flaps, shrieks, lands and runs.  The dog does something similar.  The turkey heads up the hill, up the street, and into the nature reserve.  The dog was a blur behind the turkey, but I suspect has done the something similar, because a few hundred meters away in the reserve, the turkey is leaping repeatedly up out of the undergrowth and shrieking. 

I keep calling the dog’s name over and over, but at this stage, that serves no purpose other than telling the neighbours that I already know he’s escaped, so they don’t need to each tell me about it.  Again. 

The dog was a rescue that someone else in the house acquired.  I feel much the same about him as birds that we have rescued.  Feed them, let them heal.  First time they escape, they’re ready to be re-wilded.

Forty five minutes later, the dog returns.  He’s come from the other direction.  He’s must have gone around the block.  He goes inside, has a drink and goes to sleep.  Another re-wilding failure.