Escape!

Let me just start by saying that Kona will no longer be known by the moniker The Smart One. Last night, she forfeited her rights to that name. So, we tried to go to bed at about 11:00. And you know how I wrote yesterday about knowing better than letting them sleep in the evenings? Yes, see? I knew. I knew exactly. So, of course, Coop & Kona couldn't/wouldn't go to sleep. They were up playing, eating, running around, etc. And Kona started scratching on the door (to go outside) at about 11:30. Usually, if you ignore her and she doesn't have to go, she'll stop. But she kept up the scratching for about an hour, until I had finally had enough (Jon was snoring away, so it was up to me). Let me take a moment here to say that usually, at night (when it's dark), the dogs don't run very far at all, so we're fairly comfortable letting them out off the leash. Well, Jon is. And it was 12:30, so I thought, what the heck. It all started out well enough. She did need to go and she went immediately. But then she decided to sniff around in the lot next door. And Cooper, being the follower that he is, followed. Then, all of a sudden, I hear this commotion of barking & snarling & such.

Anyway, here's a pic of what the lot next door looks like. (The small roof at the back of their lot is the dog pen when dogs bark, growl, snarl and such.) Can you guess where they ended up?

Yep, behind the fence in our neighbors' back yard. HOW did she get back there? NOT A FREAKIN' CLUE. All of a sudden, Cooper comes running back to our yard... and I'm thinking, well, maybe they didn't get into their back yard. But there's no Kona to be found. Anywhere.

So, I started over to the last place I saw her (beside/behind the fence). I figured since I assumed she was inside the fence, I would start near their house and work my way around. So, I leaned in to see if I could catch a glimpse of what was behind the fence... and sure enough, there's my little "Smart One". I walked the whole perimeter of that fence (of course, it was dark outside, so I may have missed something), but I did not find ONE place where they could've breached the perimeter.

Seeing as how I couldn't figure out what to do (being the helpless woman and all), I went home and woke Jon up. I thought at least he could see over the fence, and if anybody was going to be waking our neighbors up at 1:00 am, it was definitely going to be him. So, Jon went to try to retrieve the dog from Boo Radley's yard. He could peer over & see Kona; he could reach under and feel her; and she could see & feel him... and that made her extremely anxious to get out. She started scratching and digging. Meanwhile, Coop is freaking out back at home. Even though they fight constantly, he was genuinely worried about his sister!

Anyway, long story short... Jon is evidently quite adept at breaking and entering. He found a latch on the inside of a gate somewhere and was able to set her free. No more leash-free walks for The Smart One, oh no. It's over, my furry little friend. You can't handle your freedom, girl.