Remus/Brian bonding...

Back to wolfhound stories. Remus broke the collar for his electrical fence, meaning, he no longer gets zapped when he leaves the yard. At first, he didn't notice, as long as we put the broken collar (taped together) on his neck, he stayed in the yard. All good things must come to an end, however, and Remus soon figured out he could wander wherever he pleased, and his wanders got increasingly farther from the house. We tried tying him on multiple occasions, but he chews through every rope we've tried. I keep him inside unless I'm walking him, but we needed some way of containing him so I could sleep during the day and he could still go to the restroom. In desperation, we found the chain Brian had originally purchased to secure the lawn mower. It is a THICK chain, but we're hoping to keep this desperate measure to a minimum.

SO, being a conscientious dog owner, I decided it would be a good idea to test out the chaining process while I was still around. We gathered the chain and Brian secured it to the deck. I knew we were in trouble when Remus, who was beyond hyper at having both of us outside with him, would jump around and approach the chain and Brian would flick it, sending Remus skittering backwards. When we finally hooked Remus to the chain, he looked bewildered at the extra weight dragging at his neck and more than a little apprehensive about this thing following him around. But then, Brian picked up a stick, and Remus, chain completely forgotten, launched himself at full gallop towards Brian. The rest was classic, the chain caught, he flipped around airborn and landed with a yelp of surprise. Brian was almost on the ground in hysterics laughing.

I was concerned for Remus, but he got up without any apparent injury, although definite fear of the slithering chain. I spent the next ten minutes walking him around at the edge of his chain so he got used to it (which is what I had intended to do from the start) while Brian continued to act out Remus's spectacular mid air sprawl and gasp for breath between laughs.

Brian made it up to Remus by playing a non stop game of fetch for the next ten minutes (Remus off the chain), although it was a little one sided. Brian would pick up a stick and throw it, Remus would run after it in mad gallop and run back with it in mad gallop, and Brian would already have a different stick launched and Remus would chase after that. Brian also threw a rock, and a pinecone, and pretty much anything else and Remus dutifully, tongue lolling, brought them all back.

Oy.