Labradors ammended to "winter sporting breed."

Dec 10, 2005 7:07PM
So yesterday I griped and groaned about the cold harsh reality that is winter in New England. Little did I know that "foghorns" would be the least of my daily worries.
As I cozied up on my couch last night with a freshly stirred mug of hot chocolate I heard "KAYLA! BUCA! Get back here!" And a frantic shout down the stair case to my basement hideaway. "The dogs are loose, the gate is OPEN....THE DOGS ARE LOOSE."
"Ah, S*&!."
What's worse was I had just finished shoveling the driveway. I had been in the house just long enough to change clothes and get that mug of cocoa heated up. For those of you who haven't read the "About Me" section, the two named dogs(currently in sprint mode) are my 3 year old and 7 year old labs. They live for moments like these. The moment of escape!
So with two mangy mongrels on the loose I buttoned up my coat, grabbed the leashes, and on foot I followed the car , which was departing with my fiance' out of my freshly shoveled drive.
We checked the obvious spots first. The school, the football field, at the corners of each street with views in four directions. Normally I would not panic, but it was late, and dark, and about 15 degrees out. My biggest concern was water. I sent Rhiana towards the beach and had her keep an eye on the streets. I maintained my search at the school as this is a spot for activity. You know with all the neighborhood kids still sledding at (glance at watch) 10:30??? What the??? That seems late doesn't it?
Now, I know what all you out there in blog-land are thinking, "Look for tracks in the snow!" Yeah, OK, I'd love to have found them by their tracks and have Rhiana start referring to me as "John Locke", but I'm not yet that old and ugly. Anyway after about two seconds of looking for tracks I realized that it had snowed the day before. There were so many friggin' footprints and snow angels on the ground I'd been better off tracking the Pilllsbury Dough Boy.
I came back to my senses and the first thing I thought to do was ask someone. This is our most used strategy when the dogs have escaped and have managed to get out of eye's reach.
"You seen any dogs?" I asked the father of the "out suspiciously late" sledding kids.
"Yep, just went by about 3 minutes ago. Two black labs?."
I had just realized that I was embarrassingly out of shape and in turn out of breathe (and had propped myself up by putting my hands on my knees) I repied. "Yeah!"
"Yeah, they came by, havin the time of their lives, looked like. The went over by the woods."
"Thanks, I'll check over there." And I headed towards the woods.
So I was thinking as long as I can keep them from getting to the creek we were ok. I headed towards the water.
I was in luck because it was a clear night and the moon was about three quarters full. Just enough light for me to see....my way....into... and what seemed to be all the way through...What?
The woods were about 20 feet wide and lead into the next neighborhood. Damn it. And a set of headlights headed toward me. I reckoned that with the roads having been icy and quiet, I knew who would be behind the wheel. The car gets to the stop sign (once again I was standing hunched over with hands on knees.)
Rhiana rolled down the window (I could see the heat pouring out.) "No luck."
No luck. No dogs. No joy. "Head around for another sweep, I'm going to hoof it back to the school!" The car pulled away with tires crumbling over compacted snow and crushed ice.
I saw the school's huge brick walls grow larger and tangerine colored parking lot lights cast a shadow down onto the snow as I approached. Frustrated I yell. "KAYLA!!!" followed by some whistling.
I heard commotion from the hill wear the kids were still sledding into what felt like the wee hours of the morning. I heard a scream and for a moment was afraid the dogs had been terrozing some children, but then laughing quickly eased my tension. As the field at the bottom of the hill became visible, I saw two shadowlike creatures in the distance bolting along the treeline. I was focused and started to pick up my pace, my winter boots clomped up and down.
I belt out "KAYLA!!!"
And one shadow stops dead and pulled an about face. At full speed she met me mid-field.
"BUCA!!!"
He is now headed in this direction naturally to see what has happened to shadow number one.
For a moment I had a hand on Buca, but quickly he realized he was still free and dodged away. With one leash secure I chose to stop and wait. Kayla was clearly running on "E" and Buca soon would be too. My guess was right. Buca, on command, collapsed into a sitting stance ..."Buca! Sit!" A little black lab in the middle of the moonlit snowscaped football field.
The chase had ended. To the victor went the spoils. I had two wet dogs.
A short walk later we had brushed off snow, warmed up inside, and reheated a cold cup of cocoa.
Ah yes, two labrador retrievers. The new winter sporting breed.