Our dog, the escapee

We had a little trouble with Dell today.

To start off, we don't have a fence in our backyard and our underground invisible fence doesn't work right now.

Dell goes outside about four times a day and we haven't had much problem with her going outside the yard. We've caught her in the front or in the neighbor's yard a couple of times, but she has never wondered far from home.

Until today.

I let her out at 9 am and about 9:30, I began to wonder where she was. She's usually back at the door within 5-10 minutes to come in, but today, she was nowhere in sight. I put my shoes on to go outside to look for her. I thought maybe she was in the neighbor's yard or in the front yard, but she wasn't. I came back inside and checked in all her usual spots in the house. Still nothing.

I went back outside and walked one way down the sidewalk, looking between the houses and in the bushes. Still, no Dell. Where in the world could she be?? I looked through the house again and then decided to call Matt.

He answered and I told him that Dell had disappeared. I told him that she was nowhere in the yard and nowhere in the house. We were both stumped, so as I was talking to him, I decided to go outside again and walk the other way down the sidewalk.

As I turned the corner, I saw her. She was down about a block and across the street. Courtney was with me and we both yelled "Dell, get over here!!" She ran across the street and all the way home. I took her right into the house and yelled "Bad dog, bad dog!!" She just put her head down.

I have no idea what possessed her to get so far away from home. I was almost afraid where I was going to find her (hit by a car in the middle of the street). I'm glad she hadn't wondered too far from home, I wasn't looking forward to packing up three kids and wondering around the neighborhood looking for our dog. I'm really glad it all worked out today!