A tale of a Bad Dog

Lagniappe is asleep now. 9AM and he's worn out for the day. Why, you ask? Because he decided to leave the boundaries of the Lair's front porch and go roaming the neighborhood this morning.

Now every now and again he's been known to jump the back fence and go off to explore, play with other dogs, chase deer/cats/whatever around, and just have a few moments of fun before I notice he's missing and call him back. And to his credit, he always comes back when called.

But this morning, I'm laid up with a double whammy--a leg problem that has me back on crutches and a cold with attendant sore throat that's left me unable to talk, much less call for an escaped dog to return. Great choice of a day to pull this, dog. I get no respect from this cur.
So I hop on down to the vehicle and set off looking for him. And about half a mile away, I find him nosing around the back of a vacant house. Of course he sees me stop and comes running up all cheerful to say "hi" and get a ride. But alas, he's not allowed in this particular vehicle because it's fairly new and th"us far free of dog hair and dog claw marks. I probably should have taken the other vehicle that I use as a back-up and designated dog transporter but I was miffed at having to go find him and just didn't feel like it. So now we're half a mile from home and there's no way he's getting in with me. Hell, he walked/ran here, he can walk/run home. So I turn around, tell him to come on, and start driving slowly for home. Lagniappe follows at a run all the way back, bounding down the road behind me (there's very little other traffic on this road) and coming right up the driveway nice as you please. He even goes over to sit by the door and wait as I park and get out of my vehicle. Once inside, he goes to his water bowl, empties it, and collapses contentedly onto his rug, his aerobic workout completed for the day.

But his batteries will recharge soon enough, and we'll no doubt spend much of the day playing ball and tug o'war with his favorite stuffed whale.