Amber with bit of green plastic bone
I was helping my husband put a gigantic box that the TV came in up into the attic over the garage this morning. After we accomplished that, we swept out the half of the garage that was easy to get to with one of the cars out on the pad.
We went back into the house, but I couldn’t find Amber. I checked with my husband, and he glibly said, “I let her out when we went out to the garage. She’ll be fine.”
I ran out to the front yard and started calling her. I went all the way around the house, calling, but no Amber. I was in tears, still calling when Amber came running across the yard to me, smiling.
I gave her some treats, put her into the house, and then calming told my husband that his life was on the line if he did that again.
(We had agreed that HE could let her run first thing in the morning when breakfast followed. I have taken her out without the leash, walking from the house to the shop. I did it again yesterday, keeping a close eye on her and keeping the walk short. She is coming better now, but I don’t trust that she would come if she were distracted by a rabbit, squirrel, cat, or another dog. We even have COWS across the street that runs in front of our yard.)
My husband gave me the lecture about ‘mistreating the dog’ by not simply letting her out and letting her come home when she’s ready. I told him that we would build to that, but NOT YET!
And so continues the disagreement about when Amber truly knows where home is, when she’s coming on a reliable basis…..
creativeartworksblog 
It is not easy just to let a puppy out for free, when you don’t have fences all over your ground. Even if you had, she is a Labrador and they just love to dig holes and go down fences. I had a friend, who had one Labrador female, but neutralized. Another neighbor lived close and had a Labrador male, which wished to move house, which he showed very often. He did dig down under the wooded fence and came into the garden that way many, many times. One day the owner of the male came by bringing the leash for the male and said, that his dog did choose, where he clearly wished to live. They still have this dog.
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What a great story. We will get to the point where we let Amber out several times a day, as we do Molly. I don’t think she’s ready yet, but will work toward it. We want to be able to do this by the time the weather is really cold. We’ll also move her in off the back porch before winter, too. My husband has a much easier time than I do. I guess I’m overprotective, but it’s a gut level reaction and he’ll have to help me do this gradually.
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One time a Mommy – always a Mommy, Linda 😀
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hahahahahahahahaaha :0)
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