The other night, Cooper got stuck in the planter on the deck. Mind you, this planter is 2+feet above the deck and goes all the way around it. Cooper is only about 15inches tall. He's not much of a jumper like Roscoe (looking at them you would expect the opposite), he tends to crawl so I am not sure how exactly he got himself up there. The other problem Coop has is that he's rather afraid to jump down off of anything!
All 3 boys went out for their pre-bedtime potty break. When it was time to come in, Coop was not with the others. I hollered; he did not come. Our yard (or what we call a yard... there is no longer any grass to speak of) is fenced around 3 sides. I attempted to fence off a portion for my garden but.... well... another post will explain that. I figured he would come to the door shortly and left him be. After about 10 minutes, I called again with no answer. I listened... a quiet thumping or vibration on the deck. My first thought was, "Is that fool under the deck??" Then I heard the whine. I stepped to the side of the table/umbrella and then saw the white on the tip of his tail. IN the planter. He just stood there, looking at me, whining. I called; he wagged more aggressively and grumbled a bit. He didn't move. I called again.... he didn't move.
"Fine," I said to him, "you can stay out here." I went back inside. (It's November in Boise... not really "balmy" at 10:30pm, although pretty mild this year) About 20 minutes went by when my son, the recluse, came out and wondered where Coop was.
"Out in the planter," I told him. He went out to look. Sure enough, Cooper was still standing in the planter, wagging and whining.
"Can I get him out?" he asked.
"Do what you want," I answered, "I'm not getting him. He got himself in there, he needs to get himself out." He proceeded to go out and coax the silly animal into backing out to the edge, but when his foot met with nothing but air behind him, he ran forward again. This time, however, he was smart enough to figure out a place at the corner of the deck to turn around and run out front first. Although frightened, he slithered down without any assistance and trotted into the house feeling quite proud of himself. He hasn't done it again although it's only been a week.
Let me say this, however; He never did this until Jager joined the crew. About July this last year, when my flowers were in full bloom and looking lovely (remember? I don't have a back yard with grass so my planters filled with flowers each spring/summer were such a treat for me), I found a large HOLE dug out of the middle of one planter. I knew it had to be Jager... (We call him the "Black Menace"). Who else could get up there?? The Basset boys had never bothered them and had been around for years. Then one day I caught him...The Black Menace....standing up in my planters and digging furiously. Plants, flower petals, and dirt flying everywhere. I was LESS than impressed. After that I frequently caught both him and Coop in there. One day, all 3 were standing end to end (it's not any wider than a basset hound belly) the entire length of one side!
I do not know what I am going to do for flowers next year. They even knocked off 2 of my large pottery planters and broke them too. I remember my mom saying, "As long as I have children, I will never have any nice things." She didnt' get dogs.... she got nice things, eventually. Sigh.... Oh well. I have nice dogs!
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