Puppies on the Loose happened recently in my backyard. I had heard more barking than usual from my next door neighbor’s yard; but I opened the blinds in my office and discovered there were two puppies running around in my backyard. Soon there was another one. I do not have dogs, so I went outside to find out what had happened. There were more puppies coming under my fence, or the fence between my neighbor and me. I did not know how many puppies they had, but I soon found out it was five!
They were quite adorable, and I found out later that they were Border Collie and German Shepherd mixed. Their mother was the Border Collie that was visiting from far away. The German Shepherd was a constant in their backyard, and barks a lot normally. When I heard the puppies barking, I knew their barks were a different sound than I normally was used to hearing. I did not know what kind of dogs they were or if they were puppies or adults. I cannot see over the fence, so I did not know.
The Backstory of Puppies
I had always wanted a puppy or dog, but never had one. One of my parents said they did not like animals, but it turns out they were just terrified of dogs. This was because of a dog bite that happened when they were a small child. So since I never had a dog as a child, I did not get one as an adult. These puppies in my backyard really woke up my previous desire for a dog! I had forgotten how badly I had wanted a dog when I was young. Once I happened upon 2 stray dogs and brought them home. When my parent got home, “freak out” was an understatement of what happened!
But, back to the puppies on the loose; one of the puppies kept looking at me and paying special attention to me and not their siblings. The rest of them were mostly running around and enjoying the grass. My neighbor has no grass in the backyard since they were using it as a workspace. The one puppy that kept staying around me, I kind of fell in love with. I did not check to see if it was a boy or girl, so I imagined it was a girl. I even gave her a cute name! Later I found out it was a boy and what his name was. He already has a home now elsewhere.
Escapades and adventure
The puppies were a surprise to my neighbors since they already had several dogs. Once the puppies were in my backyard, my neighbor realized what had happened, apologized to me, and exclaimed over the fence to call the puppies back to their yard. Eventually they scurried back under the fence. On their side my neighbor tried to fill the hole that had been created by a young Husky! Apparently he was teaching them how to escape.
He did a great job of digging the hole so that they could get out, but he could not fit through the hole himself. So he escaped through his back fence and then across to my back neighbor’s backyard! Then, since my fence is old on that side, he just jumped through and broke one of the boards. He was soon in my backyard and running around with the puppies! Apparently he is quite the escape artist anyway. I later learned that he is known around the neighborhood, but he always comes back after he escapes.
Puppies on the Loose… Again!
I thought it might only happen one time, but within 4 days it happened three times. The puppies always went back through the hole they came through eventually, but the Husky had to be led out of my gate when my neighbor came to get him. She was apologetic, but I have to admit it was fun seeing puppies run around my backyard! The home I live in has a no-dog policy on the insurance, so I will not be getting a dog anytime soon. However, it was a very fun adventure! Our adjoining side yards do not get much sun this time of the year. California received record amounts of rain recently. So the normal hard-packed dirt was more like mud and conducive to digging.
One of the times that I will show in the video, they had a lot of fun in my back neighbor’s yard and my yard. They jumped back and forth between the two through a broken fence board. Since I am lucky enough to have a drill and screws, I was able to fix the fence boards. They could not get through anymore. When they were going back and forth, I had to wait for the Husky to come into my yard before I screwed the fence board in place!
Conclusion
My neighbors are now finding homes for all of the puppies. I am so glad I took pictures and videos so I can remember the fun I had with all of them. Luckily I was a procrastinator and I had a lot of pavers for a project that was yet unfinished. After I put some dirt down and got some help from some lovely men, there are now pavers along the whole length of my side fence in the backyard.
As we went back to lay the pavers down, the puppies were digging under the fence for the fifth time! It about broke my heart to push the head of my favorite puppy back under the fence so that we could seal the hole! They have been quieter now that they realize they can’t come under the fence and visit. It was a fun and interesting adventure. Someday I will have a dog!
#puppiesontheloose #purejoy
