WEEKEND WRITE IN: SKILL

The Fence

                                                                                            SKILL

                                                                                      Sep 29, 2021

Human: I didn't want to run the risk of Tangle wandering off so I had my backyard fenced with a nice decorative black fencing. It has a gate on one side and the spacing between the one inch square bars was only four inches so even small dogs wouldn't be able to get out. And, since Tangle seemed to take great delight in waiting until I was comfortable in my recliner before trying to scratch the bottom of the door off to get out, I had a 'doggie door' installed. Had to shove the beast through it about a dozen times before he started to get the hang of what it was for. Life is better.

On his first visit in the fenced yard Tangle first made a complete circuit of the fence. He started on the left, nose to the ground, a stop at each post as if to make sure it was soundly installed, then snuffling along to the next. Having found no discernible problems with the installation he then made another round, left to right, having a piddle on each post as if to say this is mine, hands off! The fact that he ran out of pee about one third way round made not one whit of difference, the message was the same. Having finished the second lap, and being a little dry, Tangle had a drink from his outside water dish, then came over and sat next to me facing the newly secured territory. He sported the grin I was beginning to recognize as his sign of success.

Tangle: "Idiot Human. Now caged, can't track down poodle!" Thought Tangle as he explored the new boundaries of his space. His sensitive nose picked up many scents; the smell of the workers getting stronger on each post as they got hotter and sweatier; a cat that had prowled through the yard sometime during the night; the squirrel that nested in a neighboring tree, smells of other dogs. After the first pass to register what his area covered, he set out marking the area as his territory. The first poles marked a lot, the others less, he would do more later. He walked over and sat directly in front of his human. The human was beginning to learn but it was slow going. He stared intently in the human's eyes.

"Big cage. My space. Human make my space. Still idiot but better."

Human: Since the idiot dog had peed until he was squirting dust then drank all the water from his bowl, I refilled it and watched him drink half of that. He then started around the base of the fence again, this time in the opposite direction, and managed dampen three posts before again running out of ammo. This of course did not phase him. He gave each post the best leg lift he had in his repertoire with his skill in presentation far exceeding his bladders capacity. I am sure he wanted even the most olfactoriaely challenged to know for sure this was his turf.