by Ken King

It probably won't be difficult for most of you to figure out what I write about this month. Especially if you have been keeping up with the Saga of the Cat. I bet Dee Jay is pulling a wad of hair out of her head as she first reads this. Well, Dee Jay, relax. My piece this month will be on the lighter side of life. It's the tale of Boscoe, an old friend that I have known since November 1988. Boscoe was only about eight weeks old when I first made contact with him and the love was mutual and unquestioning. While he is only twelve years old, if he were human he would be nearing his 90s. For Boscoe is a dog.

He is an old and ingenious dog, three-quarters Siberian Husky and one-quarter German Shepherd. He has the royalty and ruggedness of his dominant breed (husky) and he is exceptionally smart. Right from the very beginning he was always trying to be on the prowl. A chain-link fence was only a minor hindrance to his desire to frequent the neighborhood. This led to the purchase of the electronic fence and collar which was excellent for about six years until my garage took a lightening strike blowing the transmitter box totally off of the wall and I imagine sending a strong signal to his receiver collar. We didn't see him for three days. I replaced the unit, got a new collar, and rewired the yard. After that the usual zap for fence line incursions were no longer working at keeping him in. Next came the infamous "run" and the insistent barking, followed by witnessed phenomena.

The phenomena I refer too is that I was using a choker-chain on him and what I was initially told by my neighbor was that she saw him tightening the chain until it pulled his collar as tight as it could be. He then rotated back towards the run, walked slowly with his head down and removed the collar with the assistance of his paws and a shaking action of his head. I blew this off as nonsense as each evening upon my return home he would be in the yard on the "run", barking and acting all excited as I pulled into the driveway. Just like I had left him. For the anti-animal cruelty types he had fresh water every day, ample shade and a nice box for his protection from the weather. We would then go for a walk through the neighborhood and all the kids would rush up to him, pet him and ask if he could play with them. It seemed as if everyone just loved him.

Over the next several months I would find on my fence a notice from animal control claiming that they had received reports that my dog was terrorizing the neighborhood and for me to call them about my intentions to maintain control of him. I was in total confusion, as I have said when I would get home he would be on the run. This continued for several more weeks and finally when taking a day off from work I watched as he set himself free and readily jumped the fence in going about his normal routine. It's important to note that this never occurred on the weekends, it was only during the week that he exhibited this type of behavior. 

My next thought was for my neighbors that might be upset about what old Boscoe was doing. I found a new collar for him (one he couldn't get over his head) and again used the run inside a chain-link fence with a new invisible fence and collar to keep him confined to my property. Within weeks three things became apparent. First, Boscoe showed signs of depression during the periods he would be on the run. The second, my neighbors contacted me asking what was wrong with Boscoe as they hadn't seen him on his daily excursion. They missed his daily visits and his interaction with them and some felt just as attached to him as I am. The third, only one neighbor had any problem with the dog. It had to do with how their little girl was deathly afraid of him. This was because Mommy's boyfriend had told her he was a wolf and incited a Little Red Riding Hood syndrome in the little girl. 

Having discovered this and the fact that at nine years of age Boscoe was now slowing down (and he could only get over one area of the fence where he could get a head of steam up before jumping, which I blocked with another section of fence in front of it). I removed him from the run. This worked exceptionally well until I started coming home and would find him sitting on the porch with one of my gates wide open. My initial thoughts were that some of the kids were coming by and letting him out. I asked all of them I encountered and couldn't get anyone to admit to it.

Then one evening as he and I were watching television he got up and went to the door in a very unique way. I looked out the window and there was a black lab opening the gate with its muzzle. I scared her off and later that evening when I let Boscoe out for his evening duty he went straight to the gate, opened it, and scurried away. The chase was on. He wouldn't respond to the usual stoppers of my voice commands and made a bee-line to the black labs house. Where I discovered that she was in season. The owners of the lab were in the process of confining her to avoid an unwanted litter when Boscoe and I arrived. Though I didn't know them well, nor they I, they knew Boscoe as he went over to a dish they had out and as I stopped him I was told that it was for him. Seems that he would come by for a visit shortly after sundown on most evenings.

I was intrigued by how they were expecting him and walked the neighborhood with him stopping at most of the houses on the way back home and found out some equally interesting things about my wandering animal. The most enjoyable stories related to a particular activity that he had partaken in about once a month. The neighbors called it hide and seek. The players were my dog and the Animal Control Warden. It seems that the wardens routine included a sweep of our neighborhood about once a month. The neighbor across the street told the story really well about how upon Boscoe noticing the truck he would head over to the gate, open it, and make start tracking the truck. Upon being detected by the warden he would then lead the warden around the neighborhood keeping one street over but in sight of the hunter. When the truck would try to intercept him he would cut through a yard to the next street and head off in the opposite direction. Leading the warden around by the nose as it were. My neighbors thought this was extremely amusing to watch a dog outsmart a human. While it was funny to me I found myself increasingly worried about his security and that of my neighbors and their pets. I had to stop his ability to wander.

Since this time I have had to lock the gates by using a wire loop across the gate and fence polls to keep the gate from being opened by the muzzle. He has accepted that I have gotten the best of him and has learned to cope with his limited freedom of the yard. Now he has started new tactics to express his independence and need to be his own dog, but that is another story.