We've been lazy with Wes. We always are, but our strategy since we've been in this house has been to just let him out twice a day, give him treats when he returns and hope for the best. About a week ago it was quite warm and he stayed out for hours. Steve finally gave up on him and came to bed and I got up and waited another hour. I walked up and down the street looking for him while I was still recovering from Will's birth. He didn't respond to whistles or calls but appeared out of nowhere at one-thirty in the morning. I'd love to have a dog-cam and know where he goes.
A couple of nights ago, it happened again but with one significant difference: it was a cold night with a mix of freezing rain and snow falling all night long. I knew he wouldn't voluntarily stay out in that weather. When Steve gave up on him at 1AM, I got up and stayed up until 3. When I came back to bed, I tried to stay awake so I could hear his bark at the back door, but I was more convinced that he had fallen victim to the cars that I could hear on the road or the train that runs behind the houses across the street. Or maybe someone took him. Or maybe he was chasing someone's chickens and got shot. Or he got attacked by a pack of coyotes, which Steve sometimes hears in the distance at night. Or maybe hopefully someone just found him and took him in, intending to call the humane society in the morning.
Steve called the town animal control officer in the morning, who retuned his call at about 10AM. There was a dog in a trap a few houses away that was probably ours. We were both amazed - a trap? I pictured a hole in the ground with grass and hay over it. Steve pictured Wes hanging from a net up in a tree. It was actually more like a giant squirrel trap. The homeowner had reported a vicious stray in the area, so animal control had set the trap. I hope that Wes wasn't the vicious stray that she had in mind.
We were so relieved to get him back and a tiny bit satisfied that he had suffered a bit for causing us so much anxiety. We are not at all confident that he won't walk right into the trap again, so he is on lockdown until we get a fence. Poor dog. He's being introduced to the life of the country dog tied out to a tree and he doesn't get it at all. He won't sniff around and pee on things when he is tied out. He just sits down and waits for someone to come and get him. I never wanted to do that to him.
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He'll forget about being tied up, Christy - and he could get badly hurt if he keeps running lose, especially now that a neighbor has it in for a "viscious stray".....I've seen people do some damn horrible things to stray dogs :( Is he not-so-good about being in the house?
I'd get the fence as quick as you can, but in the meantime, don't worry too much. After all, he's a dog, and you're doing your best for him. Dogs are very tolerant and resilient if they have someone to love them.
We too long for the a fence, but in the meantime we just keep our dogs in the house with us all day, and let them out for supervised walks and/or runs around the yard. They seem pretty content with this life. Our neighbor's dog was allowed to run free and she was hit by a car and died right in front of my eyes. I just wouldn't ever want that to happen to my girls.
The house is fine for him, but he does have to go out to use the bathroom. I know that more than anything he wants to be near us, but he is accustomed to having some freedom and it is bewildering to him to not get to run around. I tried to take him out on a nice day to play with us in the yard and I thought that he would stay near, since we were throwing sticks and really playing with him, but he ran right off after about ten minutes, ignoring my calls for him to come back. He has some hound/hunting dog in him and a strong urge to sniff around and explore. He's the kind of dog that even when you walk him on a leash, he has his head to the ground, sniffing the whole time, pulling you in the direction of more interesting smells. We'd been letting him out in the colder weather just to go to the bathroom - Steve would walk him sometimes, but I haven't been able to - so if Steve wasn't here, I'd just let him out. Now I'm putting him on a long lead, but like I said, he won't even pee while he's on it. He just sits down and waits for me to take him off of it.
He'll just have to get used to it - we are changing our ways.