This was the first day Harmony came home with us. It was the day before Thanksgiving 5 years ago. She was a bit unsure and ran off. We were terrified. We spent the next 4 days looking for her. We live out in the country and in our neighborhood the houses are acres apart. However, our neighbors would tell us they had seen her not far from the house. We walked and walked and walked but never could find her.
Then, on the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend, the hub-a-dub and myself pulled out of the driveway and low-and-behold, as we turned out, there she stood in the road. She was skittish of us because she wasn’t used to the area and it didn’t look a thing like Grandma’s. So we stopped in the middle of the road (country road, no traffic) and he got out and called her name in a very calming voice. She started to run, but he called to her again and it was as if you could see the light bulb go off in her head when she recognized him. It was one of the most joyous reunions I’ve ever witnessed. She came running full speed toward him and nearly knocked him down.
We put her in the car (she actually sat in his lap) and turned around to go back to the house. We were all so happy.
Long-story-short, in many of the pictures you’ll see the little transmitters on the collars of both Harmony and Melody. We didn’t want to take any more chances. Where we live, there isn’t enough dirt to install a fence, so we went with the Pet Safe wireless fence. It’s been a God-send ever since.
My first day in my new home.
“Did you notice the furless companion laying behind me? That’s my daddy. This was the beginning of a beautiful love story.
Mommy wanted to get me a pink harness, but daddy wouldn’t hear of it. Come on, I’m a hunting dog. I should be wearing gun-orange! Didn’t matter to me, I knew as soon as they weren’t looking I was going to chew this thing up like a piece of good ole Bazooka bubble gum!”
Awww she learned so quickly! What a smart girl. And anyone who can wear gun orange and look so beautiful is a superstar in my book!
P.S. At some point you’ll have to tell me about the Pet Safe fence. We have a portable one for Wyatt but I’ve been too time-crunched to start training him with it.
We love our Pet Safe fence. We’ve got the kind that beeps if the girls got too far from the transmitter. If the beep doesn’t stop them, then they would get a small static charge. That would usually get their attention and turn them around. AND, it usually only took once to get them to understand their perimeter. In fact, we can walk out in the yard and have the collar in our pocket. When they hear it beep, they’ll stop every time.
We actually ended up getting two transmitters (one for each end of the house) so they would have plenty of room to run. We also have extra collars so if any of our relatives visit with their dog(s) we collar them so everyone can play. If your plan is to carry yours with you when you travel, you would be instilling the instinct to Wyatt Ray that your mobile home is synonymous with safety/home base.
Sure hope all this makes sense.