Louie, Part 2

At my last home, we lived in the country. You couldn't see your neighbors' houses from your own, but they were close enough if you needed anything. That's why I never met Louie before.

On a Sunday afternoon, I went to my kitchen door, and saw a chocolate lab out there. I'm not sure WHY I did this, but I opened the door, and in he came! I've let stray kitties come in, but not usually dogs, especially big ones!

Well, he sure was a friendly one, and he made himself right at home! I actually thought he was lost! He had on a dog tag, so I was going to call on Monday to the animal place, to find out who he belonged to. We'd then return him.

Within a short time, he was on my couch, chewing on my son's rope, and accidentally giving my couch a "worn in, aged" look(I forgive you for the tear your claw poked thru the leather, Louie!).

Since I didn't own a dog, I had no dog food, and since this pup was lost, feeding him was the only right thing to do! So I gave him Hot Pockets. :) That night, I went and bought dog food.

I found out Monday that he lived at the farm down the road, so we called his owners and Louie went home.

Louie decided he liked my house very well, and I think it was because of the kids being there. I didn't let him in the house anymore, or feed him, after I found out he wasn't lost, but he continued to show up regularly anyway.

You should have seen the times his owners had to chase him down and "convince" him to head home! I saw his "daddy" stop when he was in my yard, and Louie laid down so they almost couldn't get him in the truck to take home. LOL!!! I mean!.....bad dog!!!!

Well, one day, I heard a very high pitched noise while I was home by myself, and it puzzled me. What in the world??? I went back to what I was doing, and a little while later I decided to start the laundry.

When I opened my laundry room door, I was startled to see a large chocolate lab looking up at me with his sad puppy eyes! Louie had found his way into my laundry room by crawling all the way under my house!!! Unbelievable!

I tried to coax him outside, but noooooo........he didn't want to leave! He was big, so I couldn't exactly toss him out the door! So I tricked him! I think I threw a toy or pretended to(I don't remember), and he ran outside. I quickly shut the door, and Louie was sad.

But Louie was also determined! He did the same thing again-came thru my crawl space into my house! I wanted Dan's help to cover the opening outside to the crawl space, but he wasn't home. So what was I to do? I left Louie in the house. I didn't know how long he had been in my laundry room, so thought he might be hungry, and put some dog food on the floor for him.

A little while later, I had glanced out the kitchen windows, and noticed Louie's "mommy" driving down the road looking for him. I quickly ran outside to get her attention and let her know that he was at my house again. She saw me and made her way to my driveway with her SUV.

You won't believe what happened next!

I left the door open as Doneva pulled into the drive, and Louie came out behind me. He saw his mommy, and immediately backtracked, back into my kitchen!

Can you imagine how I must have sounded, saying these next words? As I went out to greet her, Doneva passed me by and marched right into my kitchen to teach Louie the way home "more perfectly". All the while I'm trying to tell her, "Once I found out who Louie belonged to, I stopped letting him in the house, and I don't feed him anymore either."

Oh yeah, I'm sure she REALLY believed me! I mean, she had to go IN my kitchen to get her dog, and there was dog food scattered all over the floor!

Needless to say, Louie's wandering days were over for a while. He had to be put on his chain for a few weeks or so, to help him remember where he lived.

Thankfully, my good neighbors didn't hold it against me, and didn't think I was trying to steal their pup! They even hired my son to come down and feed and water Louie when they were working at the country fair.

But Louie is a fond memory! He's still a happy neighborhood dog, but he stays home much better these days. :)