Early Dog Morning

Oh. My. Gosh.

I just saw my dog, my real dog, running down the street chasing the newspaper person on his bike.  It is 4:50am.  

At 4:12am, I heard barking and realized it was my dog.  Wondering why she was barking in the backyard at such an hour, I headed downstairs to find out.  Turns out, she was in the front yard, having let herself out the front door which was standing wide open, due to some wind that was blowing as I fell asleep.  And due to the fact that I didn't dead bolt it.  

She was barking at a frog or some small animal that was in the bushes.  I got her to stop barking, but then her running free-for-all started and she took off.  There is no point in chasing her.  Eventually she gets tired and comes back to the house and I offer a little trail of treats, a la Hansel and Gretel, and she comes back into the house.

But, chasing the newspaper guy???  How far is she going to chase him?  I'm not worried that she will hurt him, but it would certainly be scary seeing an 65-lb Boxer dog bearing down on you at full speed.  I don't think she has the stamina she used to have, but how far away from the house will she be when she realizes this?  Here I was, thinking at least there were no people around at 4 am for her to be bothering.  So wrong was I.  

I had decided to come into the house and lay on the couch for a while until she barked again.  Then I realized I wasn't going to sleep and got up and it was at that moment that I saw her sprinting after the bike.  I wish I hadn't seen it so I could think that she is running around behind our neighbors' houses and not in the more general area of the city of Chesapeake.  Which is only one of the largest land mass cities in the US.

Last night she took a piece of pizza right off the counter while I was standing there.  Suffice it to say, I am not so happy with this dog right now.  Hopefully I can post an update soon that doesn't involve a trip to the pound on Mother's Day.  Did I mention she doesn't have a collar on and that I have the paperwork to register her sitting right here on my desk?  How often do you think the paper boy has dogs chasing him? 

Okay, it's now 5:36am and Tugger has returned to the neighborhood.  I have spent the last 20 minutes trying to lure her into the house and she's not taking as well to the little trail of Beggin' Strips as I might have liked.  I've had her in the house but as soon as she gets her treat she backtracks outside.  I just tried to grab her and she got away.  But, at least I know she's here and I can hopefully get her inside soon.  Probably not soon enough to salvage some sleep though.