Dogs Don't Escape When They Are Treated Well, Your Runner Is Your Fault.

Your dog or cat or iguana or House Moose or whatever you have is your responsibility.

Not mine.

I would say that's the basis of pet care.  If you forget that, you probably should not have a dog or any other pet.

Get a stuffed animal from the toy store.  It's easier.

On the other hand, at 4AM, four-o'clock-in-the-morning, no matter how smart your dog is and no matter how well you trained it, I'm surprised it woke me up.

You see, I sleep with ear plugs.  I have my own dog.  He will tell me if someone is on the property.

In fact my own dog, Rack the McNab SuperDog(TM), lets me regularly know if the Postie or UPS or Fed(Arrow)Ex is here.  In his sleep he waits to see if I need him and will wake and grumble at them when they arrive.

When he's asleep, If I even say OK and start to get up, he gets confused and grumbles at me but that is neither here nor there.  He's inside my house and belongs here.

That may be the point. 

Instead of saying train your dog, maybe part of that is learning how to train yourself.

Case in Point, Kobe.

I think he is owned by basketball fans.  My own attitude is that if I am sitting on a couch or a chair and watching it on TV it is not sports, it is entertainment.  My doctor agrees and so does my last set of "numbers" from my last blood work. 

If you're, well, alive, your body would do best if you got off the couch and did your own favorite sport.  Or find your favorite sport if you haven't.

Usually I get grumbled at by this point in a discussion but there's a point to be made.

Your dog won't run away from home if your dog is happy there. 

What happened was a bit of a story in itself.  The Dog Training Aspect is simple.  I walk my herding dog, a McNab which is a similar breed to the much more common Border Collie, a minimum of 3 miles a day in a neighborhood that is chock full of curiosities and people to meet and grass to sniff.

What that does is that he has a map in his furry black and white head of the lay of the land.  If he sees the bridge "Off the Island" he knows not to cross because I've told him so.  He only crosses the highway early in the morning and before the traffic comes because he's been told.  He has an area mapped out where he knows every single block and a few outside of that.  He can get home if left to his own devices.  He is so smart he looks both ways before crossing the street!

A side benefit is that he knows that he has friends here in the neighborhood and when they say hello, he will squeak a hello noise back at them.

Repeat after me: "AWW HOW ADORABLE!!!".

At 4AM he's by my bed waiting for me to stir.  If there is a problem he knows how to wake me, and I am not an easy rouse. 

This particular 4AM, it wasn't my dog Rack but Kobe, the neighbor's little mix breed, that woke us.

He had been walking around the neighborhood.  The best we can figure is that Kobe had been forgotten in the yard when the owners went to sleep.

While that is (ahem) "Regrettable", I'm flattered that Kobe chose my house to awaken.  I consider it a backhanded complement even if that little dude is screaming for "More".  Kobe is bored out of his furry head and his owners need to be less distracted.

I'm sure that I'll speak with the owners, eventually, once I am actually ... awake and this is a bit more in the past.

You see how it all happened was Kobe came to my house.  He's actually done that more than once.  My yard semi-adjoins their yard.  Kobe being a wee little 20 pounder can't jump the fence and he's gotten himself into the yard that actually is against my property more than once.  Rack hears him rattling around and I end up having to get involved getting him home.

Both dogs.
More than once.

Once I speak with them, I'll have to find out what the story is.  The little guy needs a bit more training and attention and I'm home all day doing who knows what.

So if there's a takeaway from all my blather, it might be this.

Make sure your dog is inside at night.  Your neighbors won't want a visit at 4AM when something wakes your dog and he stands at my bedroom window barking at my window to wake up.  Your dog is smart enough to find me to help him get home when you probably forgot him.

The dream I had about skating with the dog next to me on a long workout was a little strange and fits perfectly with my mind set of what actually happens on a Special Dog Workout.

Just keep the speed down, distance down, and bring extra water.  They're sprinters and not endurance athletes like I am.

When I opened the door, called out "Kobe", the little dude just trotted over to me, walked inside and over to Rack's water, had a drink and sat down at my feet.  He looked up at me, as if to ask "Ok here I am, take me home".

I did, more than once.