It Was a Wonderful Week...

We got our son back.  Even though we missed him a lot, the best part was knowing that his wife and kids got their husband and daddy back.  He came home the day before Thanksgiving and I feel like a hundred pounds have been lifted off my shoulders.  Being a mama is hard!

On another note, Jacki and Tim went to Seattle for the week and asked Adam to house sit.  Not a problem - except they adopted 2 golden retrievers last summer.  The male, Cooper, is a typical golden.  Happy all the time, loves everyone, and just grateful to be alive.  The female Ginger, however, is a different story.  A very sad story.  When Jacki and Tim got the 2 dogs, they had been together for several years and the owners didn't want to separate them.  The only problem was that when she was young, Ginger had been abused - obviously by a male.  She's terrified of everyone except Jacki and her family.

Adam had a terrible time getting Ginger to come in the house at night and it was too cold for her to stay outside.  The first several nights Adam managed to trick her into the house.  By the last 2 nights he couldn't get her to come in.  She was wise to his tricks.

So, Friday night about 8pm, Adam called me to say he couldn't get her inside.  He came home and I went to Jacki's.  I thought I could get her in because she's not as afraid of females as she is of males.  I tried for over an hour and 15 minutes to get her to come in.  I hid behind the door hoping I could slam it shut behind her if she snuck in.  I got canned dog food and let her lick it off my fingers.  I threw dog treats inside the door hoping she'd sneak in.  Nothing worked.

It was cold enough outside that I knew there was no way I was going to give up and let her sleep outside.  So, being a female and thinking outside the box, I went into the garage and got an extension cord.  I opened the back door, tied one end of the cord to the doorknob and draped it across the doorway over the couch.  I put canned dog food in her bowl and put it far enough inside that she had to actually come in to snatch a bite.  I then sat on the couch with the other end of the cord in my hand and pretended like I was watching tv and didn't pay any attention to her.  After another 15 minutes, I saw her out of the corner of my eye as she snuck through the door.  BAM!  I pulled the cord and slammed the door.  Success!

I had to do the same thing last night.  It's a good thing the kids are coming home tonight, I think she was on to me after the second time.  So it was a great and interesting week.  Hope yours was too, and that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family.