First night

I got some fly repellent for Arie because the flies have been plaguing her so badly. It's made for horses actually. It helps quite a bit, I'd say it keeps about 80% of them off of her, but they still worry her. She hates the sound of them buzzing around her head even when they don't land on her.

It's been hot out and when she frets over the flies all day, she gets pretty heated up. Earlier in the week when I got in from working I took her for a ride in the truck just to give her a break and to cool her down. She seemed to appreciate it.

Yesterday I took Arie to town with me. Now when I open the door on the truck she bounds right in to the back seat. Until recently most of the time she'd put her front feet up in there then wait for me to give her hind end a boost. But, now she especially likes going in the truck because it means getting away from those pesky bugs.

After, returning home from going to town it was getting toward evening, I kept Arie with me as I did the chores. By this time of the evening the flies aren't near so bad and it is nice to see her out enjoying the freedom and not hiding away. This is usually the time she emerges from her house to run about the one acre paddock. When I take her around with me I often keep her on a nylon lunge line which is a long line designed for training horses, this I was using last evening.

I've had a rule which I've adhered to for years to not ever, ever, ever tie a dog to the rear hitch of any kind of vehicle. We personally know of two different people who did this and accidentally drove away with their pets, resulting in one death and severe damage to the other. Until getting Arie to tie a dog to the hitch is just something I haven't done. But, as I take her around doing chores there's just been nothing else to tie her to so I have been doing that around the farm with her. I am just very, very careful to not be absent minded when I do it keeping much of my focus on her as I work. You might be wondering where I am going with this story but, rest assured it doesn't take a bad turn. Last night I had her tied to the rear hitch on my truck while I was carrying some buckets of grain. Some of the family was sitting at a camp fire with a friend and I heard my daughter call out to Arie kind of urgently. I dropped the buckets and came running to see that Arie was no longer tied to the hitch. The line was there but, she wasn't.

What happened is, she saw one of the cats and snapped the metal clasp like it was nothing when she hit the end of the line chasing after that cat. The lunge line is not a light weight thing it is made for horses. The line itself is made of heavy woven nylon and the clasp is heavy duty metal.

I ran around and found Arie circling the barn which the cat apparently had run into. She was on the hunt. When she gets aroused like that it seems like she doubles in size. An impressive site. Even though she was in hunt mode, she came right to me when I found her.

Well, that is the second time she's been loose and has made no move to run off which makes me happy. We used to have a dog a female Lab/Chow that whenever she got loose she would never come back unless I bribed her with food. I'm glad Arie isn't like that.

Arie has been doing well with the little flock of male sheep and goats and I've been thinking of letting her stay loose with them at night. I always put her in a smaller pen during the night because i haven't entirely trusted her with the livestock. However she has been doing much better and I have been considering her first night. I still haven't trimmed weeds around the electric fence yet and still do not have it turned on. So with that I have been holding off as well. But, after seeing how she didn't run off I thought maybe I'd try her out. So last night I did it and left her loose with the sheep and goats all night unsupervised.

This morning I woke up shortly after 4 and was wondering how it went, and I really hoped she had not found a way out of the paddock. I got up and looked out the windows scanning the area to see if she was loose. So far so good there was no site of her. So i got dressed and drove out to the paddock. At first I saw no sign of life, but then one by one I saw the sheep and goats curled up sleeping sound. I didn't see Arie any where and went to check her house to see if she was in there. I figured she'd be sleeping just as the livestock were. I opened the door and called her name but, to my chagrin she was not in there. My mind began to race, envisioning her spotting some critter out side the paddock in the night and finding a way to get out and take pursuit. She was no place I could see. By now, I thought, "if she was loose she would have found me" since she likes the truck and almost always comes running when she hears it.

I went into the paddock and looked down near the thicket by the pond hoping she might be down in there. I called her, whistled and clapped my hands, still nothing. My mind continued racing. I was trying to remember if she still had her tag on her collar, (it kept falling off) and if I actually marked her collar with contact info, which I have been meaning to do. I was beginning to form a plan for searching for her around the area, thinking of which neighbors to call first to see if they'd seen her. At what seemed to be the peak of my growing anxiety all of a sudden there she came bounding out of the thicket happy as a lark to see me. What a relief! I thanked God out loud and walked out to meet her. The first night was a success after all. The sheep and goats were good and well, with no evidence of any excessive playing. All went well and Arie seemed to thoroughly enjoy her first full night of freedom.