A Sweet Story Of Canine Rebellion On A Sunny Afternoon

/ Ally Bean

And this is how you meet your new neighbors…

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Not our new dog friend, but a cousin, perhaps? { source }

YESTERDAY AFTERNOON ZEN-DEN AND I ARE PUTTING AWAY the outdoor furniture in the basement for the winter.

We have a walkout basement so I have the sliding door open, making it easier for me to carry the tables + chairs inside to Z-D who is placing said items just so in the storage area of the basement.

I’m walking into the basement carrying a glass-topped wicker table when a dog, with a stylish collar on, runs right by me into our basement and up the stairs into the kitchen.

Z-D with his back turned toward the door doesn’t see this happen, and I can’t move fast enough to grab the dog because I’m holding the table with a glass top that will shatter if I drop it and run after the dog.

• • •

I SHOUT LOUDLY FOR Z-D TO DO SOMETHING, and once he realizes what’s up [pun intended] he starts calling for the dog to come to him down in the basement.

In the meantime, I put down the table, run toward the stairs to go up to the kitchen, but our new dog friend, a labrador retriever-ish fellow with a positive attitude, is coming back downstairs into the basement to say “hello.”

Naturally we both tell the dog, who is an older chap, that he is a “GOOD BOY, oh. yes. you. are” because we need him to chill out and sit still so we can read what’s etched on the tag attached to his beautiful collar.

Being a cooperative fellow, the minute he hears “sit” he does so and we learn that his name is Riley, which he seems to enjoy hearing us say to him.  *tail thump, tail thump, tail thump*

• • •

SO WHILE I CONTINUE TO WHISPER SWEET NOTHINGS to Riley, Z-D calls the phone number on the collar.  He speaks with a new neighbor, a couple of streets over, who is surprised to discover that: 1) Riley is gone from her yard, & 2) he had enough spunk to go off on an adventure.

Z-D assures her that Riley, who is laying patiently on our basement floor waiting to be driven home, is fine.  And definitely here with us.

Soon thereafter our new neighbor with her son drive over to our house to pick-up Riley, who I’ve grown to love in the ten minutes we’ve spent together, and take him home.

Therein allowing us to continue to put the furniture into the basement and me to have another friendly dog to look for when I go out for my healthy walks.

~ The End ~

43 thoughts on “A Sweet Story Of Canine Rebellion On A Sunny Afternoon”

    • Kate, I totally understand that! I’ve always had much better and open relationships with neighbor dogs, then their owners. Am looking forward to getting to know Riley better over the coming months now that we’ve met.

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  3. This is great. My Great Dane, Sheila did that once, went on travels by herself, and ended up in the kitchen of someone’s house down the street. The family who lived in the house was not really happy about this 150 pound dog staring at their lunch on the kitchen counter. But they did call after reading her tag, and we retrieved her, and it all turned out well.

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    • SD Gates, what a funny story about Sheila. Perhaps she’d like to get together with Riley and go on a date investigating random homes around here. They sound like they’d get along famously.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Thank-you. It fit her perfectly. I have also had a Great Dane named Newman (who the kids called Nu-nu) and our present Great Dane is named Mica (because he is silvery blue) – but we call him Mikey.
        PS. Went over to your blog – loved it – I just don’t know how to leave comments, though on Blogpost.

        Liked by 1 person

        • @SD Gates–Thanks so much. As to commenting over at my place on Blogspot, there is a dropdown menu after the words “Comment as”, and you can select your WordPress account or whatever. Or you can simply be a NonCommenting reader; I have plenty of those as well.

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  5. LOL nice that you were not traumatized by the experience and/or knocked over by the friendly dog and broke your table. We have neighbors right next door who have TWO pit bulls (which my husband assures me are NOT the angry kind). The other day these two broke through our fence and were in our backyard “playing.” I am NOT a fan of dogs, (cats I’ve learned to tolerate), and especially not these two who were so playful that they almost knocked my husband down when he went to check out the fence (just what he needs with a fragile back). We temporarily fixed the fence but these two imps are so rowdy that they got through our fence again and bypassed our backyard and went into the neighbor’s house on the other side of us! He came home from work and found them wandering through his house. Could have been very messy since he has a labrador of his own and a cat. Fortunately no big issues and he came over to our house (we were away at the time) and did a sturdier repair job on the fence. No intrusions since then and the dog owners have been made aware of the situation so hopefully it won’t happen again.

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    • Oh man, Janet. What a story! Glad your fence got fixed, but for how long?

      I’m sure that given the chance Riley would enjoy running around with your neighbor’s imps, although with his good manners I don’t know if he’d break into someone’s house. I had the door wide open so he knew it was ok to step inside and say “hey!” 😉

      Liked by 1 person

    • Zazzy, that idea never occurred to me! Pity it didn’t. Riley was a good guest, even if he did barge right into our lives. If I ever have a dog I hope he or she is such a sweetie. 🙂

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  10. What sweet story! Riley sounds like a great dog, and the picture of him is beautiful. I’m glad it was you and Zen Den who he decided to visit instead of someone who hates dogs or is afraid of them. It could have been a very different story! I hope you get to visit with him again soon:)

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    • Beth, Riley seemed totally comfortable with us, like we were best buds. You’re right, of course. A less friendly household and poor Riley could have had a lousy time of it.

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    • evilsquirrel13, our neighbor dogs sometimes bark a lot, but rarely remember to be vicious. I don’t know if it’s the water or the vibe of this neighborhood, but people have good pets here.

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  13. Pingback: A Sweet Story Of Canine Rebellion On A Sunny Afternoon — THE SPECTACLED BEAN | iApple

    • Nance, Riley came from a loving home where his humans made sure he was wearing a tag, but had not yet quite figured out the invisible fence. He really was a delight.

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  16. Ha! Loved Riley’s cheek . . . and the fact that you enjoyed hosting him for an hour or so. Maybe you should offer to pet-sit for your neighbors on occasion (so you and Riley can get better acquainted).

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Haha–I love this! Our first English setter was a bit on the wily, spunky side too. Once, he dug himself out from under our chain-link fence to go cavorting around the neighborhood. When I finally realized he was missing, I went on a hunt for him and found him at a neighbor’s outdoor BBQ, shmoozing with the guests. What a way to meet the neighbors!

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  18. My dog, a former stray, periodically forgets that it isn’t good manners to wander wherever the nose leads and we’ve gotten to meet a few more neighbors since adopting her. Glad Riley was well behaved, even if a surprise.

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    • Allie P, that’s interesting that your former stray still goes out on an adventure. Seems like after finding a good home a dog would want to stay close to it. Of course, on the other hand, I did enjoy meeting Riley with his snazzy collar. So stylish.

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