Long night

Well, Charlie and I had quite a night. He had to go out at 2, and again at 3:30, and then he didn't make it outside and went in the house :(

He was getting extremely good at walking around without a leash - all three of us (mom, dad, myself) and our older dog Cory (whom Charlie is taking many tips from, it's wonderful!) would take him out and we'd all keep a very close watch on him as he began to learn to just stay right near us, and he was getting very good at going to the bathroom in the fields like the rest of our dogs.

So last night I couldn't find his longer leash, so I thought, well... let's try this. And he was very good - he went right out to the edge of our yard and the field and did his business... and then he decided to go on a reconnaissance tour of our fields! AT 2 IN THE MORNING. I called and called and that husky heritage of his kicked in and he looked me dead in the eye and turned right around and walked away from me. Naughty boy. I knew he was just fine but I got my mother to help me out anyway - mostly because I'm terrified of walking through our fields anytime after dark. It's a silly fear because we're so safe out here, I just can't stand it.

So, with a flashlight we went down and got him - but that little boy thought we were playing. It wasn't until I got quite stern (I felt like such a mom yelling his full name at him) and had to yell that he actually stopped and sat down.

So then we get him back up with us and I leash him with our extra leash and THEN we noticed that CORY had gone wandering out into the fields chasing after some small animal - and at that point the only thing that brings him back is starting the car. Which we did and he came racing back, tail wagging, very excited. These DOGS.

You can train them as much as you want, but you can't erase instinct and when a retriever spots an animal on their turf, they're going to chase it off their turf whether you like it or not sometimes. C'est la vie. At least Cory is trained enough to know where the edge of our fields are and he chased it right up to the edge of the line and just stood their barking at it.

Anyway, THEN I couldn't get back to sleep, and at about 3:30 Charlie whimpered to go out again. But when I took him out, he got none of his business done because the cats were sleeping on our driveway and he loves those cats and wanted to play, to which they looked at me like "Mom, can't you see we're sleeping?". And then it started to rain - big, fat raindrops. And I thought, "Well this is fabulous, jussst fabulous!" But Charlie's response was quite different - I've never seen a dog react like this to rain. He hunkered down close to the ground, and started yanking on the leash toward the front door, and when we got there he sat so close to that door I could barely open it. It was so heartbreaking to see - I can only assume that being in the rain probably brings back some horrible memories of abandonment. So he was quite uncomfortable when we got in the house and I just let him stay close to Cory and I and all three of us slept in my room. When I woke up in the morning, he was up on my bed snuggling with me and Cory was next to us on the floor. It was a sweet way to wake up with my boys.

Now I just have to hope that tonight is not a repeat of last night as I am getting quite exhausted! Such is the life of a pet owner.