The Dog Barks at Midnight

It was almost midnight when I was awakened by the piercing, hysterical yips from our puppy.  He had gotten Out and saw/heard/smelled Something in the Woods.

Barrrrkkk, bark, bark, bark!


I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.  

Bark!  Barkbarkbark BARK!

My daughter poked her head in my room, informing me that her little brother was awake and roaming around the  living room.  Now we were all up.  And the neighbors too, I imagined.

What a nightmare.  Our puppy, when faced with freedom, ignores us entirely.  He doesn't come when called, in fact he usually bolts the opposite direction.  So, as you can imagine, catching him is Quite an Ordeal.  Especially in the dark.  He will, however, chase our van (which is another headache entirely).  I grabbed a few cheese sticks and my keys and wearily shuffled to the garage.

"Heeeere Trooper.  Come on...."

Baaaaark. Bark BARK bark!

"Trooper!  Hush!"

Bark!

The van's tires crunching on the gravel finally caught his attention.  He switched over to Chase mode and raced me to the mailbox.  At least he had stopped barking!  I put the van in park and opened the sliding door.

"Here Puppy..."

I nosily unwrapped a cheese stick.  Sometimes this works.   "Mmmmmm, want some cheese?"

Silence came from the dark outside my van.

"I know you're there; I can hear you panting.  Come on...."

Nope.  He was having way too much fun.

I slowly drove back to the house.  Trooper happily ran nearby, frisky and wild.

I was almost out of ideas.  I walked to the front porch and sat down.  Frodo lay on the railing nearby, watching me.  Trooper trotted out of reach and stood there, panting and watching me hopefully from the corner of his eye.  Were we going to play chase again? 

I sighed.  "Here Kitty, Kitty.  Have some cheese."  I broke of a small piece and offered it to the cat.  Frodo jumped down and padded over.  Suddenly Trooper was there, right in front of me, all wags and wiggles, demanding the cat's cheese.

"You bad dog," I said sweetly and caught his collar. 

I put the kids and the dog back to bed.  It was almost 1 am now.  I hope the neighbors weren't too mad.  I vowed to bake a batch of brownies for them and went to sleep.