Further Tales Of the Zapper
We have a dog, Rusty, half Collie, half Border Collie,
who likes to run. He was a rescued dog who, as a puppy liked to
dash across the highway to play with the wolves. I wonder if this
isn't where he learned how to behave, because on the nearly full
moon last night he squeezed out a 5 inch opening in the garden
gate (this is an 80 lb dog too!), ran through the garden and pushed
his way out the aging other gate. I could hear him barking his
way outside around our 10 acres; but he seemingly was deaf to
my yelling for him!
Our 5 dogs live in a 2 acre fenced area around our
house: room to run and play, flowers to dig, water and good food,
places out of the weather. Is this a jail? Rusty thinks so! When
we first got him, he would squeeze between the kennel and the
fence, run around for 15 minutes, squeeze back, and suddenly reappear.
When we fixed that, he would sneak out if we left the gate the
least bit open, and the little jaunts became an hour, 2,
3, and so on, until he was gone about 3 or 4 hours last night.
I went out and called for him several times, could hear him barking,
and became very frustrated to where I was going to leave him out
all night. Finally, one more time, just checking, when I thought
of it- try the zapper. The worst that could happen is that he
would run off, which he already was doing!
So I walked out in the direction he was barking, maybe
2-3 blocks away in the neighbor's forest, and started zapping
at intervals. After about 5 zaps, here he came, trotting. I opened
the gate and he ran in, up to the house where he scratched mightily
at the door. I didn't say much: why spoil the moment?
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