The scaredy cat poodle

I returned from Farnham to be told by Paul that the poodles had managed to escape from the Heras fencing. They were fine and he’d locked them in the house.

Day-z is skinny enough to crawl under the very narrow space beneath the gate but Carmen can’t squash herself enough. However, they didn’t need to do any of that. One of them managed to open the gate enough to get through it.

I’m glad they’re working these escape routes out while it’s not crucial. It means I can plug up possible security gaps before leaving them for long periods.

While the escape was pretty clever, Day-z seriously showed me up later in the day.

The concrete arrived this morning and the builders spent a few hours pouring it in the trench. Halfway through, Dave, the boss, asked if anyone needed a rest and was suddenly surrounded by raised hands. To give him his due, he mucked in and emptied a fair few barrows full before leaving to do boss-like things elsewhere.

While the concrete was going in, we were stuck in the office as we couldn’t get back into the house. All the planks had been removed so the concrete could go in easily. I did some administrative stuff.

At lunchtime, I dropped a plank across the trench and crossed to the back door. Carmen happily followed me without even thinking about it. Day-z, however, wasn’t keen on the single plank at all. She looked at it, trod on it briefly then turned away. She was starting to get a bit frazzled as Carmen and I encouraged her to cross. Actually, I encouraged her while Carmen laughed behind her paws.

Eventually I told Day-z to go around the side and I collected her at the front door. We had lunch, happily in the lounge. We then went for a walk while the rain held off.

Our timing was immaculate as it started raining when we returned.

Upon our return, we headed out to the office but Day-z refused to cross the single plank again. She would jump down from the back door (ignoring the tree stump I’d placed there as a step), trot up to the edge of the plank, look down then go back to the dining room, staring out at us, fear all over her face.

I debated leaving her there, figuring she’d eventually follow us, but the older guy felt sorry for her and put a second plank down. She looked up at him (he looks a lot like Uncle Les did before he removed his beard) and happily trotted across to join us on the other side of the trench.

Rotten dog. I’m always boasting about her prowess and skill at jumping and running across narrow things (she was always the best over the plank at agility). The older guy asked how old they were. It felt like an excuse but when I told him they were 14, he excused her straight away.

I would just like to add that Carmen had no problem with the single plank.