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dodger_sisterFirst, let me tell you what happened Thursday night. Sis let Winston out to pee around 9. He’s been barking up a storm at something in the backyard the last few weeks and lo, he found it on Thursday. He comes in the house and Sis says, “Hey, he stinks. I think he got hit by a skunk.” At the same time, he is running into my room. So I yell, “Don’t let him in my bed, don’t let him in my bed.” He jumps in my bed anyway and rolls around on my covers. And boy, oh boy, does he stink! He definitely got hit by a skunk.
So Sis puts him in the bath while I light every candle in the house. Then she dries him, stuffs him in his crate, comes to strip my bed, while I look up skunk-shampoo mixtures. She has to go to Mom’s to get half the stuff we need, makes some skunk-off shampoo and gives him another bath, then sticks him back in the crate. It’s way past her bedtime and she is exhausted and on the verge of tears, but she remakes my bed with fresh sheets and then gives him yet another bath. Finally we go to sleep, but my head hurts so bad from the toxic fumes and he still stinks, so I refuse him entry to my bed and shut him in Sis’ room with her all night. (The next day he made a big pout of, ‘I guess I’m not allowed in your bed anymore, boo hoo’.) The skunk catcher comes the next day, but now he says Winston can’t just be loose in the yard or he will scare off the skunk, get sprayed, set off the trap or all of the above. It’s a catch & release trap so it won’t hurt him, but still. After work Friday, Sis gives him another bath. He is tired off this bathing nonsense by this point. Saturday morning, yet another bath. Now Sis is tired of accompanying him to the yard and he has been having sleepovers at Mom’s lately, as she is doing better, so Sis decides we are sending him there. However, it could be a week before we catch the skunk, so she says maybe it’s time for him to go home anyways. Mom has been asking for him and she is doing well and blahblah. It’s a whole conversation about why I don’t think this is a good idea, followed by my concession that he is her dog and she should have him if she wants him. (I don’t trust her to care for herself, let alone another living creature and there is a story as to why, but it’s a story for another day). I concede under pressure but boy I’ll miss my pup.
Saturday night rolls around and Sis wakes around 2:30 to hear a dog barking. ‘Winston?’ she thinks. No, he doesn’t live here anymore. (Unbeknownst to her, I thought I was hearing it too, but I was like, “Get a grip, he hasn’t even been gone one night and you’re hallucinating his barking.’) She continues to hear it and thinks it must be coming all the way from Mom’s house. After a bit, she gets up to investigate. Once she enters the living room, she can tell it’s right outside. She opens the door and there is Winston! Sitting on our front porch, asking to be let in. She lets him in and he runs around like a mad dog for a minute, then comes and jumps into bed with me. Covered in mud. I yell, “Don’t let him in my bed, he’s all dirty!." Then, "Wait…Winston?” He ran away from Mom’s to come home to us!
Turns out, someone had rung Mom’s doorbell at like 2am. It frightened her quite a bit and she wanted Winston to stay in the house, but he was agitated by it and went out his doggie door to investigate in the backyard. Mom fell asleep, woke an hour later, called for him. He didn’t answer, so she went back to sleep (evidence she can’t care for him, she didn’t get up to check on him after that nonsense.) When Sis investigated Mom’s backyard gate, it seems someone had opened both latches and let Winston loose. This is scary to us, because it seems someone was scoping her house at 2am and when they found a dog, they released him. It speaks to me of someone trying to get rid of the dog so they can come back later and not have to deal with him. Mom wants him to come back. We said No. (if they couldn’t get rid of Winston by releasing him, what might they do if they return tonight?) I would like Mom to come stay here for a few days. She said No. We go to Chicago next weekend, so Winston will stay here until we return from the trip, for our own peace of mind, but how scary to think someone is scoping out her house and letting the dog go. We are getting padlocks for her gate. And she has a security alarm already. But we are still trying to catch the skunk, so we had to get an outside tie-line so Winston can go out to the bathroom, but stay clear of the skunk trap.
I just can’t believe he ran away and came home to us! We don’t live too far from a main road either, so I am glad he had a little adventure, but then came home. My puppy!
So Sis puts him in the bath while I light every candle in the house. Then she dries him, stuffs him in his crate, comes to strip my bed, while I look up skunk-shampoo mixtures. She has to go to Mom’s to get half the stuff we need, makes some skunk-off shampoo and gives him another bath, then sticks him back in the crate. It’s way past her bedtime and she is exhausted and on the verge of tears, but she remakes my bed with fresh sheets and then gives him yet another bath. Finally we go to sleep, but my head hurts so bad from the toxic fumes and he still stinks, so I refuse him entry to my bed and shut him in Sis’ room with her all night. (The next day he made a big pout of, ‘I guess I’m not allowed in your bed anymore, boo hoo’.) The skunk catcher comes the next day, but now he says Winston can’t just be loose in the yard or he will scare off the skunk, get sprayed, set off the trap or all of the above. It’s a catch & release trap so it won’t hurt him, but still. After work Friday, Sis gives him another bath. He is tired off this bathing nonsense by this point. Saturday morning, yet another bath. Now Sis is tired of accompanying him to the yard and he has been having sleepovers at Mom’s lately, as she is doing better, so Sis decides we are sending him there. However, it could be a week before we catch the skunk, so she says maybe it’s time for him to go home anyways. Mom has been asking for him and she is doing well and blahblah. It’s a whole conversation about why I don’t think this is a good idea, followed by my concession that he is her dog and she should have him if she wants him. (I don’t trust her to care for herself, let alone another living creature and there is a story as to why, but it’s a story for another day). I concede under pressure but boy I’ll miss my pup.
Saturday night rolls around and Sis wakes around 2:30 to hear a dog barking. ‘Winston?’ she thinks. No, he doesn’t live here anymore. (Unbeknownst to her, I thought I was hearing it too, but I was like, “Get a grip, he hasn’t even been gone one night and you’re hallucinating his barking.’) She continues to hear it and thinks it must be coming all the way from Mom’s house. After a bit, she gets up to investigate. Once she enters the living room, she can tell it’s right outside. She opens the door and there is Winston! Sitting on our front porch, asking to be let in. She lets him in and he runs around like a mad dog for a minute, then comes and jumps into bed with me. Covered in mud. I yell, “Don’t let him in my bed, he’s all dirty!." Then, "Wait…Winston?” He ran away from Mom’s to come home to us!
Turns out, someone had rung Mom’s doorbell at like 2am. It frightened her quite a bit and she wanted Winston to stay in the house, but he was agitated by it and went out his doggie door to investigate in the backyard. Mom fell asleep, woke an hour later, called for him. He didn’t answer, so she went back to sleep (evidence she can’t care for him, she didn’t get up to check on him after that nonsense.) When Sis investigated Mom’s backyard gate, it seems someone had opened both latches and let Winston loose. This is scary to us, because it seems someone was scoping her house at 2am and when they found a dog, they released him. It speaks to me of someone trying to get rid of the dog so they can come back later and not have to deal with him. Mom wants him to come back. We said No. (if they couldn’t get rid of Winston by releasing him, what might they do if they return tonight?) I would like Mom to come stay here for a few days. She said No. We go to Chicago next weekend, so Winston will stay here until we return from the trip, for our own peace of mind, but how scary to think someone is scoping out her house and letting the dog go. We are getting padlocks for her gate. And she has a security alarm already. But we are still trying to catch the skunk, so we had to get an outside tie-line so Winston can go out to the bathroom, but stay clear of the skunk trap.
I just can’t believe he ran away and came home to us! We don’t live too far from a main road either, so I am glad he had a little adventure, but then came home. My puppy!
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no subject
Date: 2016-11-07 12:10 am (UTC)Who will walk and feed Winston while you're away?
Skunks are bad news; we have a lot of them here, too. I agree about not letting Winston stay with your mother anymore.
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Date: 2016-11-08 10:59 pm (UTC)Oh we have a house sitter/pet sitter for that. She stays the whole weekend. She's the daughter of a friend of mine and she is in college and lives at home, so I think she likes to do it simply to get out of the house for a weekend, lol. She works for cheap and the animals love her. She doesn't walk the dog though, because we would be too worried for her safety - we have a lot of loose dogs in this neighborhood. Idk if you followed me back when Winston was attacked, but no, we don't have her walk him. She takes him in the backyard to play fetch though. And the cats adore her too.
Skunks are bad news; we have a lot of them here, too. I agree about not letting Winston stay with your mother anymore.
He smelled SO bad and omg, he is still obsessed with rooting out the skunks nest, so we have to keep him on a tie-out line in the backyard until that is all said and done.
He will have to go back to Mom's I think, eventually, but certainly not while we are out of town and unable to keep an eye on things. She just doesn't use common sense. I certainly would have gotten up to check on him if he didn't come when I called. He ALWAYS come when you call, I would have been worried. But she went back to sleep. It troubles me, but he is a foster dog, we can't keep him from her if she wants him. I do worry though. At least we live a few doors down and can I monitor him and such.
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Date: 2016-11-07 01:29 am (UTC)*hugs all of you*
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Date: 2016-11-08 08:30 pm (UTC)Yeah Winston thinks he had the best adventure, a fun Saturday night out. I have to wonder if he didn't go to Mom's front door first and bark but she sleeps with her hearing aids out, so didn't hear him? At any rate, I am glad Sis got up to investigate the noise because otherwise we would have found him sleeping on the front steps at nine in the morning, lol.
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Date: 2016-11-07 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-08 09:05 pm (UTC)Lol. Straight up. He knows who runs this family! And it ain't Mom. I swear, he probably went to her door too and she just slept through it, lol. I am so glad he came home! Mom is heartbroken though - "he ran away from me!" I almost feel bad. Almost. ;)
It's been a few nights and no one has come back to her house, so hopefully the dog scared them off. And he still smells just a little, just a bit when I go to give him kisses on the top of his head. He really is the best dog. It is because of taking him to visit with Dad, that Dad has decided he wants to get another dog, as his roommate''s passed about two years ago.
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Date: 2016-11-07 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-08 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-08 09:17 pm (UTC)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mammals_of_Great_Britain
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Date: 2016-11-08 11:04 pm (UTC)