In the past several days, Hastings has escaped twice for a run around the neighborhood. Shiba Inus are natural runaways, and since we lost our previous dog to a speeding car during a similar escapade, we tend to be a bit paranoid about “letting the dog out.” But things happen and after two years of confinement, Hastings darted out after the sweet aroma of freedom and I felt my heart leap into my throat as I ran after him with flashbacks of my bleeding puppy laying limp in the road.

We managed to catch him both times - a miracle in and of itself, as a shiba on the loose is faster than a cheetah with its tale on fire - so this story does have a happy ending. The other miracle is that he allowed himself to be trapped in the same space twice, a mistake he usually doesn’t make the first time.

Through the ordeal, it became glaringly apparent what a role upheaval our household has gone through since Button’s birth. During the first year we had him, Hastings escaped and I came very close to a nervous breakdown, even after we caught him. J came home to a very exhausted and teary wife who was quite ready to give the dog up because I couldn’t endure the stress of it.

But this week we both found ourselves able to take the incident more or less in stride - a good thing, because if he had escaped twice in 4 days a year ago, it would probably have sent me over the edge. This four-legged rocket that used to be our child has now, to his confusion, been reduced to the role of the family pet. Now that we actually have a child, our lives and well-being are not so entertwined with the dog’s and, though it would be a tragedy, we would be able to function if something happened to him.

Now let’s just hope Button doesn’t run away any time soon.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 7th, 2005 at 9:34 am and is filed under Parenting, Pets & Animals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.