Dog Tragedy, Possibly Mitigated But Not Solved Completely · Sunday April 19, 2009 by Julie
Well, we were playing stick. It’s a little like Calvinball but mostly like, I throw the stick, Java rushes to get it, and then tears around the yard with it, rolling her eyes back towards me to see if I have noticed how she has an actual stick in her mouth! Then, she drops it somewhere, I run to get it, and we each yank at the stick until it snaps in two or I get tired and make her drop it. Then, we do it again.
So, this time, it landed inside the sheep pen. Java jumped the electric fence too casually, and as she slid over, the top two strands zapped her.
YIKE!
“I want to go home,” she told me. “I want to go in my hole.”
So I let her in the house and she slunk into her kennel.
The next day she was scared of me, scared of playing stick, and scared of the out of doors. I put her on the leash and led her around as I gardened, worked on my painting, and so on. She trembled. When I let her off her leash, she went back into her hole.
Today, as is our wont, I let her out in the morning when I went to the outhouse. Then, it was breakfast, our favorite time of day ever. “Java!”
No answer.
David drove to the dock. I ran to the quarry. “Java!”
No answer.
Finally, a neighbor called. “I have your dog. What should I do with her?”
I fetched her, and we trotted to the Point, playing Stick all the way there and back.
