The absconder

And so it had to happen at some stage and today was that day. Murphy's recall has been going well over the past few weeks and shortly after taking this blip I let him off the lead so that he could play with Corby, a beautiful black & white cocker who we met in the park. Things where going great and I was literally beaming with pride each time Murphy recalled to my whistle.

Anyway more dogs arrived at the park with their owners and Murphy decides to run off to greet a liver & white springer who was in the distance. So I blew my whistle waiting for my fluffy companion to join me....nothing. "Murphy this way!"....nothing. Then before you know it he decides to hot foot it and squeeze himself through a gap in a fence which borders one end of the park. Meanwhile the owner of the springer is just standing there while watching Murphy's bid for freedom and he can see me running across the park. I get up to him and thank him, although I'm really not sure what for. I can only begin to imagine how much of an idiot owner he thought I was at this point as I was secretly thinking of him as an unhelpful sod.

So the fence is about 3.5ft tall and beyond it are the jaggiest jabbiest assortment of branches and bushes interspersed with giant jaggy nettles. So I crouch down because I could see a foot or so of the ground level before my view was obscured by the nasty plant life. With Murphy being black & tan it made it extremely difficult to make out where he was so I blew the whistle again and tried my usual bribery of "Mmm see what Mummy's got!!"
"Sausages!"
"Murphy this way"
"Murphy!"
"Muuuuuurrrrppphhhyyyy!"
"MURPHY?!"
And it dawns on me, nothing I say and no amount of merry whistle blowing is going to lure him back to me so there's only one thing for it.

I climb over the fence and get down onto my hands and knees and crawl underneath the jaggy jabby plants with twigs and branches which are doing a fantastic job of making my mission as hard as possible. Branches are smacking me in the face and being entangled in my hair, splinters are jamming their way into my fingers, my knees are getting dirty and damp with the muddy ground whilst my cardi is attaching itself to as much jaggyness as possible. I'm really going to town now calling out Murphy's name and blowing the whistle while I scramble about but it all felt so pointless because he had absconded and I was becoming further trapped by the god awful plants.

The moment of panic had passed for a second and I deliberated who to call. Mr itiswhatitis? What's he going to do 30 odd miles away?! No, what about the dog warden? Well yes seems like a good idea but I have no flaming idea where I am or even how to get out from the bush. I felt sick. And was ready to crawl back into the distance from where I came and then I turned my head to the right and like the silent little ninja doggy that he is, there was my boy looking at me like some demented mad woman. I wanted to roar at him for giving me such a fright but I knew from the vast array of dog books I've acquired that wasn't going to endear him to me and so I clipped the lead onto his collar and instead muttered "Wait until your daddy hears about this" and ruffled the fur on his head.

With that I led him back to the fence whereby Corby's mum and another dog walker were waiting for us. I was so grateful for their help but mortified none the less for the performance they'd just witnessed. And then on the way home we bump into the owner of the chocolate lab who was also returning home from his walk. The same guy who saw me taking pictures of these very flowers while trying to control a wayward puppy yanking at his leash as I tried to keep my hand steady. He already thought I was a nut job for blipping the wild flowers while attempting to control Murphy but the twigs in my hair and mud stained jeans and vest now clearly confirmed those suspicions to him.

So 1 red face for me and 1 wild adventure for Murphy. Needless to say the long line will featured heavily in our future walks. Wee bissum!