Stupidhead Move
Don't you just hate it when you do something dumb? Last week, to my chagrin, I was able to add an incident to my already lengthy list of stupidhead moves. All I can say is, it seemed like a good idea at the time??
Because Cabana's recall at dog parks is atrocious, I've been looking for opportunities in which to practice. On one of our early morning walks, we took the dirt path pictured above. A barbed wire fence runs along this path, with a very large cow pasture on the opposite side. An immense field of grass flanks the path's other side. There are no roads close by, and since I usually walk Cabana fairly early in the morning, no other beings (human, canine or bovine) were around. 
I kept Cabana's nylon lead attached to her flat collar and purposely let go of the other end, letting her meander and sniff about a bit but still encouraging her to stay near me on the path. I'd call her back to me and reward her with a piece of kibble when she returned. No other dogs to contend with, it was all going according to plan! Until....
Much to my utter surprise, that rascally devil of a dog wriggled herself, lickety split, under the barbed wire fence and ran into the cow pasture! (Thankfully, there were no cows there at the time.) She frolicked around like a crazed lunatic, gobbling up cow poop as she dashed about.
I called to her, but of course, she ignored me. I took out a fistful of kibble...more ignoring. I bent down, patted the ground under the barbed wire, called her name happily and playfully, called her name more sternly...more ignoring.
Finally, in desperation, I thought, darnit, there's nothing else I can do but climb over this barbed wire fence. I prayed I wouldn't scratch myself up too terribly as I gingerly placed a foot on the bottom rung. My standing on the fence, though, completely piqued Cabana's curiosity ("What in blue blazes is Mom doing?", and she came running over to me! Finally, no ignoring!
I got back down off the fence and was able to grab her leash and lead her back under, safe and sound except for a bad case of poop breath. Needless to say, I didn't let go of that leash again. Enough practice for one day.
As we completed our walk along the path, I noticed that there were no other spaces along that fence where Cabana could have fit under. Except for that ONE spot (shown with Cabana sitting in front of it), the wire is much lower to the ground and has a lot of brush growing up under it (as shown in the bottom photo). Of all the places for me to decide to do a little off-leash rehearsal! Next time, I'll try to be more careful--although I'm not naive enough to think this will be my last stupidheaded move ever.
