...because I was cold, so I called Tikva to come in and unlike her she did not immediately appear. So I pulled lightly on her tether and it was caught on something so plonked out to free it but she was not at the end of it because the clip had broken and was caught on the edge of the wall. Slight panic because I could not see her. Tikki? No Tikki. Mad panic. Tikki. In. NOW. Nudge from behind - were you looking for me? She had obviously realised that she was loose and just come in without me noticing, but for those few seconds my heart was in my mouth because Shabbat had just finished and there were cars on the road again. Tikki had actually been out most of the day as it was sunny and dry for the first time in ages as she has only been able to just rush out during the brief breaks in the rain, and definitely the first time she has been able to sprawl in the sun. It was also the first day in ages that I have been able to sit here with the door open to watch the world go by, without rain coming in. Best of the lot has been that there was enough sun so I actually had hot water today!
Well this is funny, but only because it ended well. I remember that sinking feeling where you feel powerless and worried. Very glad your little girl is ok and that you both got to enjoy some well deserved sunshine and fresh air
That feeling is impossible to explain. I'm sure we've all been there at some point. Tikki is a good little girl
She really is a good little wubble - I have no idea how long she had been in as I did not notice her coming in and presumably she went straight onto her nest on the couch, which is opposite the door. Luckily I keep things that might come in handy so I had spare leash clips. I used to fit a leash on each end of her rope tether as I originally used some rope left from that I got for Pereg, which was a bit too heavy to use for the whole tether, and when a leash got too twisted/stretched/worn and had to be replaced I cut the clips off. Since I got much lighter-weight and thinner rope [more like a thick cord than rope] I use a leash clip on the end that clips onto her harness, and a carabiner on the other end. Both ends are double looped through the clip and carabiner, and taped securely with insulating tape. It was nice that she was able to be outside today and the forecast for the next few days is fairly good, so hopefully she will have a bit more time outside before it rains again. It really has been a bad winter - maybe not cold as some of you have it but this Country is not built for cold and rain, at least these old houses were not built for cold, and the drainage country-wide is atrocious.
The worst feeling in the world. Letting one dog out to pee, watching it come back in, closing the door, and then five minutes later realising there's only two dogs in the room, not three, because one of the little darlings has slipped outside, behind you and without you noticing. (Garden faces out onto a very busy main road). When you rip the door back open in a blind panic, the errant dog is sat on the path looking extremely hurt that you had the audacity to have shut it outside!
Glad Tikva was OK. It seems to be getting more difficult to find really durable clips that will take knocks, but are suitable for small dogs. My training and tracking leads all come with really hefty clips - even on the half inch width ones. This has never bothered burly Eddie, but I hate hearing these clumpy clips knocking against Merry's bones. Any inventors reading this?
Tikki was fine B"H and I think she must have come in as soon as she realised that she was loose. The leash was only a cheapo - I do have some good leashes that came in a set with Tikki's harnesses, although since I originally bought them I just buy replacement harnesses if and when the stitching on them looks a bit iffy, but the ones I used on each end of the tether when I was using Pereg's heavier rope were, as I say, just cheapo ones. I used medium sized caribiners for Pereg but then she was a bigger girl at ~22kg as against Tikki's ±6.5kg, which is why even the rope was too heavy banging on her back. Pereg was not only bigger and heavier she was unfortunately well padded and overweight due to her medication, and even though Tikki is rock solid bone and muscle she is still a slender little girl. I sometimes forget how big Pereg was in comparison until her harness falls out of the bottom of the wardrobe. I kept the harness and collar she was wearing, just as I kept the ones that Lexi had on, plus all their tags... the others were washed and given to Ram, as he said that they could always make use of them in the surgery, or find people who needed them. The clips from the cheapo leashes are OK - true the little knob on the trigger thingy tended to break off but the clips were still usable as a thumbnail opened them. This particular one though broke from the top - the actual metal just snapped somehow.
