Saturday started out about as normal as our days ever are. I took my cup of coffee to the couch, and sat where I could see what was going on with the neighbors across the road. My interest was because they had parked their huge motor home outside of their barn and for several days they seemed to be preparing for a trip. The thought of that made me especially happy because I then anticipated a peaceful few days without having to wash mud off of dog feet numerous times a day. The only place in our yard that is really muddy is along the fence in front, by the road. Rocky, their young Shepherd, comes across the road numerous times a day, barking and yipping hysterically. That is the signal to my boys, for a wonderful interlude of running back and forth along the fence, in the mud. My boys run silently, but Rocky makes enough noise for all of them. He is young, and he is actually afraid of my guys, but he is getting braver unfortunately.
The worst part of the situation is not the mud, but the risk of Rocky getting hit as he dashes back and forth across the road. There is nothing I can do about it because we are out of the city limits and no one seems to care about Rocky's life except me.
Before Rocky, there was Kona and Cody, from the next house up the road. Kona was much worse than Rocky. He is also a Shepherd, but a very odd one. He also did the hysterical bark thing, but he was mean and actually connected with Quest a couple times, once ripping his shoulder and requiring stitches. Cody, a Labrador, was worse if possible. He tried to dig under our fence and I kept having to put additional wire and tent stakes down to prevent it. .Cody would come under the fence, normally when my dogs were inside, but one time he miscalculated and and ended up confronted by Spirit, who promptly ushered him off of our property. That was several years ago and Spirit was not just tough, he was physically strong also. When Cody got to the fence he did not want to turn his back on Spirit in order to slide under, but one look at Spirit convinced him he had better do it fast. Spirit has always been wonderful at handling situations with no bloodshed. As far as I know, Cody has never come back under our fence. I keep it tacked down with tent stakes though. Cody finally got hit by a car and although he survived that, I have not seen him come over near as often. Kona was getting worse and worse and he took to snapping at people across the road from his house as they attempted to get their mail from a row of boxes. I don't know for sure what the determining factor was, but those neighbors finally stopped leaving Cody and Kona loose for the most part. I suspect Kona may have bit someone, but I don't really know. It was so peaceful - for maybe a couple weeks, then Rocky started doing the same fence attacks and I guess this is just one of the hazards of living in the country where people do not believe in fencing their dogs. We don't have any problem with dogs that just pass by on the road, as most dogs do. It is just the ones that challenge at the fence. They are actually on our property and Spirit, for one, just thinks that is wrong. The other three seem to just enjoy the race.
Anyway I could use a vacation from them so we could enjoy a few days in our yard with bird sounds, enjoying the spring. I watched as they loaded the RV. They were even pulling an additional trailer for toys - oh boy, they must plan to be gone for at least a week. The kids were all excited and Rocky was so excited he raced around the RV all the time they were packing. Then they got in the RV and pulled out onto the road.
I watched with something like horror as Rocky ran behind them for a while, down past our woods. Eventually he came slowly walking back up the hill .... back home, with his head down. All the joy was gone out of him and he simply walked across his yard until I could no longer see him. His family had gone and left him. It brings tears to my eyes this morning as I write this.
I believe someone is stopping by to feed Rocky. I hope so anyway. If he gets hit by a car while they are gone I guess it is just Rocky and me who will have to deal with it. I don't like humans much today.
