One of those "phew" moments

The door was open, the sun was [still is] shining, Pereg was outside and was quiet - and then a young girl appeared half way down the path and told me that my dog was loose.

Whaaaaaat?

Pereg had gotten her rope tether caught round one of the scaffolding poles that holds my solar panels/boiler and instead of her "come free me please" bark she had tried to do it herself but had just gotten more and more wound round one of the poles. So she bit through her thick and very strong rope tether and had a little walkabout.

Me? I panicked when the girl [about 12 years old] told me - asked where she was and she said "oh, she is coming back" - so I just knelt down and said "Pereg, bo le ima" [come to mommy] and she flew straight back in.

Phew. [where is that wipes brow emoticon when you need one?]

Which goes to show four things.

1 - Little One, on the rare occasion she managed to get loose, which was if I had not made 100% sure that she was clipped onto her tether before opening the door - would go run run run run and would only come when called by either my neighbour or one of her brothers who was then living there. Never for me.

2 - Pereg - who very rarely does get loose, which is if either her trigger clip breaks or, as this morning, she bit through her rope for a reason which seemed a good idea to her, will always come straight back when I get down, hold out my arms and call her to come to me.

3 - That two dogs are never the same, however much you treat them the same.

And the fourth thing? That a guaranteed recall is worth its weight in the effort and love you put into teaching it.

Pereg - I love you more than you will ever know.

Thank goodness she's ok MALKA.Horrible feeling,that few moments of panic.Lovely little girl to come and warn you

Yes I was thinking how lovely the little girl came to tell you, because you've had so much trouble with some of the children haven't you, so there are nice people about still, just few and far between unfortunately.
Hugs to Pereg for being such a good girl

Phew indeed!

I remember a knock at the door and opened it to find a neighbour holding Loki by the collar! It seems someone (OH! ) had left the big gate slightly open and our neighbour had found Loki standing outside in the street. He hadn't run off, which was a surprise.

Fridays are the busiest days of the week regarding traffic, whereas normally there is very little, but on Fridays there are people rushing to buy last minute things for Shabbat - people going away and people coming here for Shabbat - and the lunatic illegal off-road quadbikes coming from town through the tractor paths to use this long straight road as a speed track.

And when the road was re-built they did not re-build in the previous speed bumps so it can be, and frequently is, utter chaos and so very dangerous.

Also schools finish early so we get the school buses [coaches] coming to collect children from the schools on the Moshav to take them to their various Kibbutzim and Moshavim in the local region, plus the school buses [coaches] turning up to drop off our older children from wherever they go to school. The schools here are for children up to the age 14 I think, then our children go to senior high schools off the Moshav.

So the thought of Pereg being loose brought "panic" to new dimensions.

I do not think I know the girl but she was probably nearer 14 than 12 - but she obviously knew me and knew Pereg - and although I am not sure how long Pereg was loose it probably was not for long and she probably did not go far, and she definitely kept to this side of the road.

So. I untied the loop I had made in her tether to shorten it when the loony woman swore that I set Pereg on her children when Pereg could not even reach the pavement and sent the police round, but I shortened it anyhow. Cut off the knot which was all that remained of her tether to the large trigger clip and re-tied the rest of the rope to the clip. Her tether is now only maybe half a metre shorter or a bit more but it is the last one I had.

And then I went straight across to the macolet as Avner had bought a reel of that rope when I first asked him maybe a three or so years ago - he keeps the reel in his storage unit next to his home but will bring me about 60m on Sunday plus some more clips, so I can make four more tethers for future emergencies - which I sincerely will not happen.

But trigger clips break and Pereg does not normally bite through her rope [which takes some biting but she has extremely strong jaws, probably due to raw feeding...] and usually if she gets caught round one of the poles she will do her "I am caught" bark and it I do not have to go out as she knows "back", "this way" "that way" etc and follows instructions to untangle herself. Why she did not bark to tell me this morning but tried to untangle herself, I do not know.

But if I ever needed proof that Pereg would not harm anyone, which I do not as I know Pereg so well, I had it this morning as the girl had two younger children with her and none of them seemed the slightest bit bothered, the older girl actually coming down my path to tell me that Pereg was loose. None of the usual screechies - just a girl calmly walking down my path to tell me and then said that she [Pereg] was coming back.

And none of them moved while Pereg went past them to come to me. Just wished me Shabbat Shalom and went off home.

Phew indeed!

Even 'tho our Baruska died on June 26th. last year I still find myself thinking about how different from Rianna she was, in fact the two were totally different in character and their reactions to certain situations. Like chalk and cheese

Good work Malka. I'm glad there are no problems. Jade is scared of kids, won't come back when called, and I'd be horrified if she got loose like that.

AND *breathe* good job Malka and Pereg