Me fallin in love with the black dog, originally uploaded by estacey.

So yesterday, when I got home, Balu had gone to class and the backyard was empty. The dogs had escaped AGAIN.

I got to have a little treasure hunt in the neighborhood for the dogs. It turns out some nice lady from a few blocks away saw them running loose, leashed them, and then went to find whose they were. I finally got in touch with her and went to her house to re-collect them; the red dog was too interested in the feral kittens she had outside her house to keep them there. Oh, she's one of those crazy cat ladies. ;)

I also found out that these dogs belong to someone, lord knows where. They're often seen running loose in our area.

Long story short, Balu fixed the couple of spots that could have been considered "weak" ones in the fence and the dogs were good all evening. I let them in for treats (cat food) and snuggling on the couch. I asked Balu if he'd take them out walking the next day by where I found them and maybe they'd sniff their way towards their house. That way, they could get home without us just having to let them loose near our busy roads.

We went grocery shopping and returned to find the dogs in the house, despite no obvious way of getting in. "You're magic dogs!" is all I could think. It turns out they came in through the CAT DOOR. It's just big enough for my little cats, so I'm quite impressed at that..

Balu was intent on not letting them sleep inside, so I put them out last night. Then it started to rain, so I grabbed a blanket, let them inside, and napped on the couch with them until the rain stopped. Then I ushered them back to the yard and went to sleep.

This morning - they were gone, again. Argh. Well, let's hope they found their way home and, if they don't, know where to come back for some dog food & Friskies. :) And let's hope their owners were scared a little by their evening's absence and try to make sure the puppies aren't by busy roads.

They're a couple of really nice dogs. The black dog ("Black Dog") is as sweet and mild-mannered as you could hope for. Seriously, I'd dog-nap him if he didn't have such a good buddy in the red dog (who GROOMS him, I'll have you know). The brown/red dog ("Red Dog") is off-limits thanks to her intense interest in my cats. She's a sweetie too, though, as long as you're not a feline. Proof: I let them eat some of my veggie beef jerky (haha - they loved it!) last night and each of them took it from my hand as gentle as can be imagined. Considering my cats will tear my hand off if I'm too slow putting their treats on the floor, I was touched.

¶ 10:57 AM