Barmy Blue's Bland Blog

Don’t worry. It wasn’t my dog. The story as far as I know is completely true. Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.
On Friday night mum came home and told me how she hurt her thumb. It’s a little crazy.
Some things to note.
She had work that day so couldn’t hang around too much.
I have met and know the dog in question and her owner. I’ve seen them a couple of times back when I used to take Yuki to the park in the afternoons (I stopped mainly because I’d always got depressed half way round and I still have no idea why) That was a couple of years ago.
The dog is home now and seems to be doing fine.

So. Mum had a plaster on her thumb and she told me that the nail was split about half way down. She can’t grow her nails like me and that nail had recently broken so she’d already filed it right down. Ouch. Usually when my nails split it’s just the dead nail so it’s fine. Splits a little further down have happened to me in the past but so far never half of the nail.

One sidestep here. Just decided to define my paragraphs a bit more to make things a little easier. Will try to keep it up but will probably forget.
(Edit: Turns out the paragraph defining didn't work at all)

Here’s the story.

She took Yuki out before work. There was barely anyone out because, and I quote, “It was pissing down with rain.” Usually Yuki likes to sit in one spot every time they go there. It’s been the cause of a few events. Today she spied a familiar dog sitting at a different spot in the rain at a distance but much the same way Yui does, quietly content. This dog is a Husky Akita cross. I call her Barrel Dog because she looks like one when she has her winter coat. Yui always seems to recognise half huskies and wants to be friends with them. These two dogs know each other and are, if not pleased then at least, tolerant of each other’s presence.

Mum looked around for her owner but couldn’t see him, or anyone for that matter. She figured the dog must have escaped. So she tried to look on the dog’s collar for a tag with a phone number but couldn’t find one. She stayed with the dog trying to figure out what to do, bearing in mind she still had to get ready for work. She did consider trying to take her to our vet (the owner is also a client) as he lives across from the park.

It’s only when she mentioned the vet today that I remembered Barrel Dog’s owner once told me about a visit to the vet. Our vet receives mixed reviews from owners. He doesn’t always come across as friendly but he’s never rude or nasty and we’ve never had cause to fault his vet-ness. So. Barrel Dog’s owner once told me about when he took her to the vet. She was in season and he said she’s on her period. To which the vet replied she’s not on her period, she’s in season.
Well it kind of is the same kind of thing, but they only have two a year lucky *****es. Get it?

Back to the story.
But the vet doesn’t open until 11am. This was a like 7am or something. Mum figured she couldn’t bring Barrel Dog home. I disagree with that. It wouldn’t be ideal and Yui would have hated it but if need be it could be done. I theorised that, if she had managed to drag the dog to our house just holding the collar (because it’s not like she had a second lead or anything) and did somehow manage to open the door without losing one of the dogs. All she’d have to do is put Yui in the living room and shut the door (well pull to, it doesn’t properly shut anymore) and put Barrel Dog in the kitchen and close the dog gate. Then come and wake me up to keep an eye on them until the vet’s opened.
Or course this would all have been far from ideal but doable. But that’s not what happened anyway so no need to dwell on it.

Then Yui got bored and headed to the back entrance. Barrel Dog followed and so did mum. She wasn’t quite sure what she’d do when they got there but figured as long as the dog was following them…who knows. Not far out of the park. All of a sudden! By the houses. The dogs spied a cat, probably waiting to get indoors and, as Barrel Dog was loose, she darted off after it. It bolted into the park (because some of the local cats do hang around the park. There are one or two who actually follow their owners while they walk their dogs).
Yui also tried to chase after the cat but she was on the extending lead. Mum tried to reel her in because Yui was heading too close to a car. She got the lead stuck under a car bumper.
Now this part of the story has been difficult to pin down because mum a) doesn’t explain it very well (she’s been dozing off the whole time that I’m trying to extract this information from her like a very difficult orange) and b) She’s not 100% sure what exactly happened herself.
She had the button pressed so Yui couldn’t run any further. She’d grabbed onto the lead for a little more control but in her haste had gripped it with her thumb down. Yui’s desperately trying to follow her friend and chase, catch and kill this poor cat and has gotten the lead hooked under a car. We conclude that the violent shaking about that the lead must have done rammed it into mum’s thumbnail but we’re not entirely sure because she didn’t notice at the time. She was treading on the handle of the lead so that she could use both hands to unhook the lead. By the time she’d unhooked Yui, Barrel dog (and the unfortunate cat were long gone). She had no choice but to head home and get ready for work. Since we have no contact information for the owner, we don’t know where he lives, nor know how to contact anyone else who knows him, all she could do was worry about the dog all day and night.

So today when she took Yui out Barrel dog’s escape is a hot topic. As she was on her way home she met someone she knew but couldn’t quite recognise (he turns out to be the partner of one of her old dog walking buddies (people she meets in the park walking their dogs while she walks Yui) but hasn’t seen lately since her dog died). Usually when seeing a familiar dog walker the first thing you recognise is the dog . He asked if she’d heard about Barrel Dog and she told him her own story regarding the situation, and how worried she was, when, suddenly, she spied Barrel dog’s owner, with Barrel dog. So they asked him how they were and what had happened. Now as I only have this information third and/or fourth hand it’s not as detailed.

On Friday morning he drove his mother to the airport, leaving Barrel Dog at home, apparently in the garden. Also apparently, this is not the first time she had escaped either, but I’d say this seems the most dramatic due to the circumstances.
What exactly happened after mum saw her is unknown. But she was found and picked up in the road holding up traffic (apparently uninjured). There’s something about a dog warden getting her. Not entirely sure how or even what one actually is. They went to the police station to check for reports of a missing dog. Well. There weren’t any since no one knew she was missing. So they took her to a local vet to check her over and check for a microchip. No need. The most local vet happened to be our vet. The RSPCA were either there or consulted or involved somehow. There was talk of them doing a welfare check on the dog’s behalf. The vet dissuaded him because he knows the owner and knows that he is a good owner.
Then there is concern that something has happened to him so talk of the police doing a welfare check for him. Not sure if they did that or not. If they did they wouldn’t have got a response. They tried calling him but no answer. Why? Well. It seems that he was stuck in terrible traffic in a tunnel coming home from the airport. No reception. By the time he got out he had a bunch of messages and missed calls.

So. Needing to house the dog somewhere until her owner could be found, this dog warden took her to a shelter in Watford. Apparently that’s quite a way away but I’ve just looked it up. Maybe about half an hour in good traffic. So not that far after all. This actually turned out to be good because, as he was coming home, Watford was actually nearer to where he was. So he picked her up and brought her home and everything’s fine. He’s noticed that she’s limping a little but there seems to be no obvious cause for concern.
Oh. And she doesn't have a tag because it broke off and he hasn't replaced it yet.

So. That’s the daring escape and adventures of the Barrel Dog.
I’d add something else like recent updates but I’d say this is long enough. I think you’ll have to wait until next Christmas for Christmas part two. Don’t get your hopes up too high though, you often find long anticipated sequels aren’t really worth it, just warning you.

Bluebiird out.