Escape Artist

I pull in the driveway, and there's Lloyd in the garage, rummaging. He looks like a storm cloud.

"Come with me to the back yard," he says. "And don't let Dieter out until I fix the fence."

Uh oh.

I got the story in dribs and drabs as he hammered away at the fence and gate (there's a wonky little fenced-in-area that 4 yards all abut against, and contains the cable box and other utility things). The story goes thusly.

This deck is my deck...but a guy can get tired of the same-old thing.

Lloyd went  out on the deck to call Dieter in and notices the eerie silence. Usually Dieter is happily trotting around with his plastic watering can or scaring birds or some other noisy and rambunctious activity. But silence. Our neighbor, Tom, noticed Lloyd was madly looking for Dieter and joined the search. Lloyd hopped in the car to check the neighborhood, and by the time he got around to the adjacent street (our back yards butt up to each other), there was Tom, waving his arms. "Here's Dieter," he shouted.

Dieter had managed to open the gate into the utility area and then discovered a loose board. All loose boards lead to uncharted territory. Or so thought Dieter.

"Ooh, it's the neighbor's yard." Dieter has long admired this yard, as it belongs to his dog friend, Scruffy. Dieter and Scruffy were playing, and then Scruffy's owner came to let Scruffy in, he found Scruffy and Dieter. 

Luckily Dieter is well-liked by folks in the 'hood. He had to earn his stripes, though. I think old habits die hard and when people see German shepherds, they think: imminent attack. Tom was one who I'm pretty sure was a bit dismayed when we showed up with Dieter. A previous owner had 2 German shepherds who had pretty nasty temperaments. As Tom said: "Good thing it was Dieter. Those other dogs would have eaten Scruffy."

The fence is now mended. Because Dieter is darned good at problem-solving, I suggested (and amazingly Lloyd agreed) that he make 2 latches to prevent Houdini from attempting another escape into Scruffy's turf.

We're all just glad it turned out well. And realize that we need to do like our pal Dieter and do regular perimeter checks.