Canine Capers 13

Hard to believe that our time here is coming to an end. But rest assured that the story is not over, folks.

First things first, though.

We all slept in till late today — comparatively late, that is. The sun was already up when we first went outside and breakfast was still a ways away.

Finally, the meaty goodness was served and M and I scoffed it down without delay. Then, while Jenny and Leon were munching down their breakfast, we began to gather up all our things so we would be able to pack quickly when the time came.

At one point, M was so busy rushing around that he got himself completely tangled in his leash, which was hanging down the side of the chair. What a goof!

Fortunately, Jenny snapped a photo before she freed him.

Then it was off for a walk. A last chance to take a good look around the neighbourhood for anything that needed fixing or saving, and a last opportunity to let everyone know that we were expanding to a ‘new’ address.

Okay, our old address, as in our usual address, but 'new' sounded a lot better than saying we were packing up and going home.

No offence, Mom!

Anyway, as we were walking around, it occurred to us that the entire place was devoid of bipeds, canines and critters.

“Where is everyone?” wondered M. “Why isn’t there anyone out on the streets?”

I had no useful answer. “I don’t think it’s because of the heat, but I suppose it could be.”

“It is a Sunday, so maybe everyone is still sleeping.”

I chuckled. “Sleepyheads!”

But as we went along, the signs were everywhere — on fence posts, walls, trees, rocks, sidewalks, car tires and fire hydrants. Hidden messages that only M and I could decipher. And the message was clear — everyone was afraid. Apparently, there was one thing left for us to do ... perhaps our greatest challenge.

The word on the street is that it isn’t safe anymore. Too many drivers recklessly taking to our road with way too much speed and gusto, making it particularly dangerous and scary for kids, the very grown grownups, and critters of all shapes and sizes. Something bad is going to happen to someone before too much longer, and that will devastate us all. We simply can’t stand by anymore and let a few terrorise us with their boom boxes on wheels.

What we need is a way to get the word to the bad drivers and make them slow down to a safe speed.

And what we need is a pair of super sleuthy detective dogs to lead the charge.

“What do you think, T,” M asked with a quirky grin. “A job for Dog Gone It!?”

I put my arm around my brother’s shoulder. “Absolutely, but this is a big one. So, let’s wait until both Mom and Dad come home so we can work together as a family to make that happen.”

M laughed uproariously. “Dog Gone It! A family affair! Who would have thunk it?!”

And with that, we loaded up our doggie bags and headed home, happy in the knowledge that, along with our new friends Alice, Carli, E. A., Cheryl, Jonathan, Harriet, Darcy, Sammy, Claude, Elisabeth, Adam, Theodore, Webster, Harley, Copper, Mikey, Riot, Shadow, Dingo, Winnie, Lachlan, Madam Dragonfly, Mr Cat, and, of course, the Doctor, we had made our world just a little bit nicer for everyone.

This is yours truly and Mr One and Only signing off for now, but know that, as the Doctor always says, “The adventure never really ends — it just gets way better!”

T

Canine Capers 12

Summer well and truly made its presence felt today. We heard on the radio that the warm weather was expected to continue “until otherwise advised”. Gotta love that!

Nice and warm for you to come home to, Mom!

M and I were busy most of the day doing nothing much — until the early evening when all hell broke loose.

We had eaten our tea, and Jenny and Leon had eaten theirs. They settled down to watch TV, and M and I stretched out on the cool kitchen floor to watch the inside of our eyelids. Everyone was happy. It was all very homey, comfy and quiet.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Jenny answered and then became immersed in a discussion about football, power, and ice cream.

“Hello? ... Oh, hi Miriam! ... We’re watching the football ... Bombers are ahead ... Yeah, better than last week, that’s for sure ... The what? ... You’re kidding! ... (to Leon) The power’s out at Miriam’s ... (to Miriam) Yeah, that’d be great ... (to Leon) She’s coming over ... And she’s got ice cream! ... (to Miriam) Okay, see you in a few. Bye!”

“Who’s Miriam?” I asked M.

“Don’t know, but I think we’re about to find out.”

Next thing we knew, Leon raced upstairs and started vacuuming. Jenny took out the stuff for recycling, cleaned off the table, put some other things away, and generally tidied up.

A veritable hive of activity — and pure hell for those of us who had already packed it in for the night!

Then, when Miriam arrived and came into the back room, a curious thing happened. Instead of running away as he usually does when meeting a stranger, M walked right up to her. Kissed her foot and sniffed her ankle. I’d never seen such a thing before in my life!

“M, what are you doing?!”

He turned to me with a puzzled look on his face.

“I’m saying hi. What do you think I’m doing?!”

Clearly, small miracles do happen.

In the course of the evening, we discovered that the power had indeed gone off at Miriam’s building and she couldn’t get upstairs to her apartment. Unfortunately for her — fortunately for us, or them, at least — she had ice cream that she wanted to share, or rather had to share because it was melting.

And so for the next few hours, they ate ice cream, watched some television, and talked and talked.

Ice cream for everyone, except us. Bugger!

You might think that Dog Gone It! did not play any role in the events of this evening, but you would be wrong. We made ourselves available on call to help with the ice cream, if required. And M absolutely did his part by being nice and polite and making a really big effort to say hi. I was so very surprised ... er, I mean, proud.

And I’m thinking it might finally be time to reintroduce M to Mike and see if they can finally — FINALLY! — get along.

After all, what are neighbours for if not to all get along ....

T

Canine Capers 11

A snappy lesson learned is one you’ll never forgot. Or so M discovered!

We awoke this morning to a beautiful funny day.

“Don’t you mean ‘sunny’ day?” asked M.

Oh, right, yes. A beautiful sunny day.

Given our recent hectic schedule, we wanted to stay outside snoozing — our favourite pastime when we are not otherwise dealing with bad guys and aliens.

However, yesterday, late in the afternoon and throughout the evening, rain fell gently all around. No storms; just rain. Ever since Monday, they had been saying it was going to rain, and when it finally came, it was a relief — at least for those poor weather forecasters who never seem to get it right.

Unfortunately for us, with the deck still wet and the grass downright soggy, it was clear that the best place was inside.

So there I was sleeping all comfy and warm, when suddenly, without warning, M declared, “I’m bored.”

Did I mention I was sleeping? I was none too pleased to be disturbed. I didn’t lift my head or acknowledge him in any way.

“Then go for a walk or play some cards, but whatever you do, please do it quietly. I’m tired!”

Back to sleep I went and that was the last I heard from M — until there was a loud snap and a yelp coming from behind me.

I jumped up just in time to see a rather pitiful sight — M with a mousetrap hanging from the long fur on his front right paw.

I could only watch for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

“Where did you get that?” I spluttered, and then barely managed to say, “Did the mousey give it to you?” before again with the laughing.

Turns out M had been sniffing around in places no one ever thought he could fit — clearly where not even a mouse could fit — and when he came across the little grey toy, he simply had to find out what it was about.

Silly, M. Doesn't he know not to touch things that don't belong to you? He does now! Oh, he was more startled than hurt, but I’d say it’s a safe bet he won’t go exploring in places he shouldn’t anytime again soon.

Yes, I eventually stopped laughing long enough to relieve him of the source of his embarrassment ... although I did leave a few strands of his fur in the mousetrap as evidence.

Like I said the first time, a beautiful funny day — courtesy of Mr One and Only!

T

PS Jenny eventually saw the trap and the long strands of fur, and put two and two together. I think she and Leon are still laughing!

Canine Capers 10

Got a problem in your neighbourhood?
Dog Gone It!

Lost something and can’t find it?
Dog Gone It!

Someone making too much of a racket?
Dog Gone It!

Need help?
Dog Gone It!

Only problem with finally getting a name for the agency is that it creates another problem — deciding what to put in the advertisement! Of course, if Doctor Who is right and people know about us throughout the universe, maybe we don’t need to advertise. But we do need business cards, and having a succinct slogan would be nice.

While I was trying out possible candidates, M interrupted.

“T, did you hear that?”

Silence, but for only a second or three.

“There it is again.”

“Yes, I heard it that time.”

I turned in the direction of the noise. “Sounds like someone sneaking around — and not doing a very good job at it.”

“I don’t think we can wait for the police,” cautioned M. “I’m sending out the red alert!”

A few minutes later, E. A. Crow, Madam Dragonfly, Alice Rabbit, Sammy Sparrow and Claude Squirrel had spread the word to our canine and feline colleagues — Harley, Copper, Mikey, Riot, Shadow, Dingo, Winnie, Lachlan and Mr Cat were ready to defend the neighbourhood on our call.

And then we saw him. A young man sneaking out of the backyard a few houses down from us. No idea what he was doing, but he looked awfully suspicious. And judging by the sound we heard before — like someone climbing over a fence — we were certain that he was up to something.

M put out the call as the young man ran past, and immediately everyone started barking, squawking and ‘tsk tsk’-ing, except for Mr Cat who was on lookout and E. A. who was tracking from overhead.

The young man took off down the back lane, picking up speed as the others’ responses let him know he was no longer anonymous. A few minutes later, I saw him walking up the front street, looking somewhat disconcerted and hopefully rattled by recent events. But we weren’t going to let him off so easy and the barking began again in earnest.

Mr Cat watched as the young man slowed down at the top of the street, clearly trying to catch his breath. He looked back over his shoulder once, and then E. A. heard him say, “Wow, I’m never doing that again!”

“You better not, kid,” kaw-kawed the crow, “because Dog Gone It — we’re watching!”

We never did find out what he was doing, but we don’t expect to see him around these parts anymore.

When all had quieted down again, M suggested, “Okay, let’s get back to that slogan.”

I was ready to share ...

Dog Gone It!
Canines and critters on watch in your neighbourhood.
We might be small, but we’re BIG on keeping you safe.

“Nice!”

T

Canine Capers 9

And so it was that M and I were once again relaxing outside when yet another strange thing occurred.

A weird timewarpy sound and a flux in the natural state of things, when suddenly there it was. A square blue box with tiny little windows and a pointy roof.

“What the hey?!” I exclaimed.

But M was smitten. “Oh me, oh my. Don’t you know who that is?!”

“Not a clue,” I responded, although I have to admit that my interest was tweaked to the max.

A moment later, the door opened and a tall, handsome drink of water stepped out. Wanting to protect my little brother, I stepped right up and indignantly inquired, “Say, who are you then?”

But M answered for him. “It’s ... it’s ... it’s the Doctor,” he stammered.

“Doctor who?”

“Exactly!”

Huh?

“Perhaps I should explain,” suggested the intruder, who had somehow found his way into our personal space and parked his thingamabob a mere two feet from where we were lying just moments ago.

“I am the Doctor, and I have travelled through time because I need your help.”

While I was contemplating ‘travelled through time’, M was already responding.

“You need our help?”

“Yes,” he replied, apparently surprised we would even question that fact. “Your super sleuthy detectiveness is well known throughout the universe. And I’ve got an interesting problem on another planet that needs a canine perspective.” He let that sink in. “So, will you help?”

And off we went. Hurtling through time and space, all the way to planet Felinity in the Seventh Solar System of the Sylvestris galaxy.

In other words, we should have packed a lunch!

Oh, it was a simple matter — dogs and cats not getting on well — and we settled everything in no time at all.

On the way back, I asked the Doctor why, with all his experience in alienology, he had needed our help.

“Being an alien myself, I can relate to cats, no problem. But dogs — they, you, are an entity that I rarely see in my travels. I figured it was better to go directly to the source than to fizgig around with something I knew little about.”

Given yesterday’s neighbourhood happenings, we completely agreed.

When we safely touched down, we wondered if anyone would have noticed that we were MIA, but the Doctor reassured us we hadn’t aged a bit.

“It’s the beauty of being a Time Lord,” he smirked. “And before I go, I want to say thanks for helping me. I believe this will do the trick.”

M was thinking ‘treat’. I was thinking ‘a blue box all our own’. The Doctor was thinking something way better.

“I understand that you still don’t have a name for your agency.”

“That’s true,” I confessed.

“Well, on my way here, I was thinking about this one — a name that identifies who you are and what you do, all mushed up in a saying that humans and critters understand nicely. And so I give you ... DOG GONE IT!”

I was dumbfounded. M was still thinking ‘treat’.

Dog Gone It. Yes! So obvious and says so much. We are dogs. And our job is to make ‘IT’ gone, be ‘IT’ a problem or a dilemma or an intruder. Perfect!

The Doctor interrupted my musing of the possibilities.

“Right. Gotta go. There’s a nasty matter of Daleks trying to terminate some humans in the 11th century that I have to put a stop to.”

M already had his hand up.

“Not this one, M. Too dangerous for young pups. But I’ll be back for sure.”

And with a nod and a wink, he was gone.

A few moments passed before we even moved.

“Wow!” exclaimed M. “What did you think about that?!”

“Yes, finally a name for our agency — Dog Gone It!”

M was smiling. “No, not that.”

“What then?”

“He called us young!!!!!!!!”

T

Canine Capers 8

It was mid morning when we heard the ruckus.

Our crow friends were back on the wire, and although we couldn’t really hear what they were saying, it was apparent they were either telling a story, having a fight, or trying to get attention. We couldn’t tell which, but they were doing something in the loudest possible way.

M and I had been happily snoozing up till that point and were not really interested in finding out what they were going on about. But they persisted, and we felt that if we were to have any peace today, there was no choice but to go outside and get the lowdown.

Carli Crow was there with her pals, E. A. and Cheryl. They were looking down at the large ginger cat who lives a few doors down from us. Clearly they were not happy.

“What’s the big problem,” snapped M. Clearly he was not happy either.

“That cat. He’s skulking around.”

“So?” persisted M.

“Well, he looks like a bit of a bully,” they scoffed. “And he walks around as if he owns the place. We think that maybe he’s responsible for some of the strange stuff going on in this neighbourhood.”

I was surprised to hear the crows so insistent, but then M reminded me that one of Cheryl’s babies fell victim to a cat once. Not this particular cat, but a cat, nonetheless.

And then, before anyone else could say anything, the cat spoke up.

“Why do you paint us all with the same brush?”

He looked quite sad, and I felt sorry for him. I know what it’s like to be blamed for something that someone else did. Right, M?!

The cat continued, obviously a bit miffed by the accusation. “I was just out for a walk before it gets too hot.” He lay down and rolled on his back, all innocent like. “I honestly wasn’t looking to bully anyone or do anything mean or scoundrelly. In fact, I’ve actually given all that up — getting old, you know. I’m more into relaxing and reclining these days. I don’t even bother to chase mice, much to my owner’s chagrin!”

He looked rather pleased about his retirement.

The crows, however, looked a bit ashamed of themselves. E. A. looked away and Carli looked up. It was Cheryl who actually spoke.

“We’re sorry, Mr Cat. We didn’t ...”, but the cat interrupted.

“Actually, I think I should apologise for what that other cat did. He was from out of town, no friend of ours, and all of us in this neighbourhood felt bad for you. Will you accept our apology?”

Carli nodded. I think she might have even blushed a little, but we’re not sure how to tell if a crow is blushing.

For the next few minutes, we chatted about all the weird things going on in the neighbourhood and how everyone had pulled together in the past few days to help out. They all seemed excited about our agency — still nameless, but we are working on it.

Later on, M and I were talking about the entire conversation, particularly the ‘painting with the same brush’ thing.

I wondered aloud. “Why don’t we — as in dogs and birds in general, and even a few humans — like cats? From what I’ve seen, unless a dog grows up with a cat, they simply don’t get along. And people tend to be either dog people or cat people, but not often both.”

M nodded, but couldn’t shed much light on the topic. “To be honest, I simply don’t know.” He thought for a minute and then added, “Although I did read once that cats are aliens in disguise, and Harley told me that he heard they were reincarnated celebrities hoping to live like royalty with a whole lot more lives. Now, that I can believe!”

We both laughed. “I guess the only way to find out is to actually take the time to talk to a cat and ask him. Or her.”

What do you think?

T

Canine Capers 7

We awoke to business as usual for a Monday. Breakfast, snooze, snack, snooze, lunch. The perfect preparation for an afternoon of scurrying around outside.

For some reason, it was very noisy today — no, not courtesy of that noise — but from lots of sirens whizzing by on the main street. Fortunately, none stopped anywhere near here, and equally fortunate was the complete lack of rain — inside and out.

Eventually heading into the yard with all eyes open for something to investigate, we spied something odd and seemingly out of place.

“What is that growing through the fence?” M pondered.

We took a closer look, but were none the wiser about the apparently rapidly growing leafy thing stuck between our chain link fence — yes, yes, “ours” is only a temporary sentiment — and the neighbour’s tall wooden fence. Adding to the challenge we faced was a corrugated plastic barrier that, from what we heard, has a purpose for down the line. For now, however, it merely served as a safe place from where we could witness the unruly green threat comfortably nestled on its other side.

Given that we have, of course, read the story about the beanstalk, let me say that we were concerned about “our” place being thrust way, way up into the sky, beyond clouds, higher than birds, and having to rely on some kid named Jack to save us. Especially when we had the power to stop things before they got out of hand.

Anyway, after a brief discussion, M and I recognised that there was no way we could get over the fence and down to the source of the potential problem. Instead, we opted to seek out the help of some other critters in the yard.

We spoke to Elisabeth Ladybug and her cohorts Adam Ant and Theodore Spider, all of whom agreed to either climb over, walk through or scurry around the fence maze to get to the source of the oddness. They would then compile their information and report back so we could take appropriate action.

Elisabeth managed to climb over both the chain link fence and the wooden fence where she saw similar growths in evidence in the neighbour’s yarn. After walking through the open link of the first fence, Adam was able to enlist the help of Webster Worm, who, after digging around a bit, reported that the soil in which the growths grew was very well aerated and the roots shallow and weak. Theodore carefully climbed one of the growths in question, webbed it up, and brought back a sample.

When we had all regrouped, we discussed the findings. Clearly, this was not an anomaly, but merely a repeated event in at least two backyards in the neighbourhood. The soil in which the leafy things were growing was too well aerated to support any kind of giant tree. And the things themselves were not likely to grow very big since they were obviously weak in stature, with shallow roots and spindly stalks.

The verdict?

Weeds. Just your good old common garden-variety weeds — albeit quite a few of them.

If we could, we would have peed on all the invaders to kill them dead. But hopefully we can bring them to Jenny and Leon’s attention so they can take care of the weeds themselves. After all, why should they rely on us for everything?!

T

Canine Capers 6

Today was the quietest day so far, and a little unexpected, to say the least.

After a long morning walk, we were left to our own devices for several hours. Thank goodness! All that cooking and cleaning and tidying up they were doing before they left was dizzying and quite disturbing for M and me.

“Let sleeping dogs lie,” I muttered under my breath.

They did, and we did, so it was all good.

Shortly after they left, while checking every nook and cranny for something to do, M discovered that the door had been left open.

“Wow, that’s a mistake,” he exclaimed, with a gleeful mischievousness in his voice.

And before we knew it, we were outside, way away from where we had begun.

I knew the area. It was the great big open park at the very top of our street, just south of the airport. And I, for one, was happy to be free. Running through the dandelions and the lush grass, leash free, our legs going as fast as they could, our ears and fur blown back in a way that made us look slick and handsome.

At one point, we saw a group of young kids coming in the other direction.

“Do you think they want to play?” asked M.

“It’s doesn’t matter,” I replied. “We have something more important to do.”

Somehow, we found our way to the pet store where there were loads of treats and toys on the top shelf. I tried to reach up, and was suddenly confronted by a large man who asked, “Are you going to pay for that?”

M checked his pockets, which were empty, and we looked at each other before hightailing it out of there.

Once outside, to our surprise, we were in a garden store, standing in front of the gnome section.

“What are we doing here?” I asked incredulously. “Don’t we have enough of these at home?”

But M wasn’t listening. He was staring at me, and then past me at the trees in the corner. It was quite a while before he said anything.

“I don’t think this is right,” he declared. “Those trees are too tall.”

I turned just in time to see the Ficus trees begin to move in our direction.

“Can trees hear?” was the last thing I remember saying before we turned around and ran along the bank of the river. It was good to feel the fresh air in our faces once again.

Overhead, the dark and angry clouds that had been gathering all day were now completely shielding the sun from view.

“I think we should have brought umbrellas,” despaired M. “There’s no shelter anywhere.”

“Too late anyway,” I cried as the skies opened up. But to my amazement, the raindrops were not as one might expect, and I rubbed my eyes in disbelief.

It took a few moments for me to figure out what was going on.

“M!” I bawled. “Quick! Wake up! We have something more important to do!”

And there it was, folks. We super sleuthy detective dogs had deduced that it was raining, in fact pouring, but not in any way you might expect.

No, the door had not been left open, we had not been outside, we had not visited all those places nor run wild and free in the dandelion field.

We had simply fallen asleep and dreamed it all, only to be rudely awoken when one of us — and I’m not saying which one — fell asleep next to the water bowl and accidentally tipped it over, sending water up over and under us, soaking us to the core.

“Come on, M,” I suggested. “We’d better dry off, or when those people come home, they are going to think we've been up to something!”

T

Canine Capers 5

There’s a strange thing going on in our neighbourhood.

A funny noise — actually, a noisy noise — every now and then coming from somewhere across the street.

And given our success yesterday with the animal grapevine, M and I thought we would see who was around today to help in our investigation.

First things first, though. M has been so busy the last few days trying to come up with a name for the agency that he completely forgot to eat. Well, to eat his real food, but apparently not so busy for his treats. That man at the end of his leash would not have been impressed!

Anyway, today he decided that he needed to get back on track so he could keep up with the pace of our expanding business — and he scoffed down his breakfast like there was none tomorrow.

After we had our post-breakfast snooze, Jenny let us outside — although I’m sure we’re smart enough to let ourselves outside, thank you very much! — and we stayed out there while getting our grapevine together.

Madam Dragonfly was our first visitor. She landed right on M’s nose, much to his chagrin, before she settled on the neighbour’s fence.

“What are you two up to today?” she inquired. (Ladies don’t ask, they inquire.)

M spoke first. “We want to find out where that noise is coming from.”

“What noise?”

“Well, you can’t hear it now, but you will later on, and then we’re going to find out what it is.”

“And what are you going to do about it?”

“Put a stop to it!”

That M. Always with his pie-in-the-sky ambitions, although I have to admit, it would be nice to somehow silence that infernal noise.

“Can I help?” offered Madam Dragonfly, with a gentle flutter of her glorious transparent wings.

And before either M or I could answer, she added, “I have to meet some mosquitoes for lunch, but I’ll come back as soon as I hear the noise.”

Now, that’s what I call a plan!

Before long, we had our grapevine in place — Sammy Sparrow, Claude Squirrel, our friend Alice Bunny, Carli Crow and, of course, Madam Dragonfly. And then we sat back (actually, M and I snoozed) and waited ....

And waited ....

And waited ....

But nothing happened. No noise. How very disappointing!

Or maybe knowing that there was a plan to stop it was enough to scare the noise from ever happening again. Now, there’s a nice thought.

Oh well. At least we have a team in place if the noise decides to disrupt our lovely little neighbourhood again.

It’s been a long day — time to hit the hay. Waiting for danger that never comes is certainly an exhausting pursuit!

T

Canine Capers 4

After a good night's rest, we were keen to get outside and see what was going on in our neighbourhood. Yes, we're still trying to decide on a name for our agency, but no time for that when there's sleuthing to do.

Before long, there was a knock at the door, and suddenly we were looking up at two tall people and two short people. M, of course, took off in the other direction, intent on doing his best to steer clear of the approaching hands that he knew were coming his way. I, of course, tried to leap right into their arms and get as many hugs as possible.

At first it didn't seem like there was anything for us to do, other than stay out of the way and stay as close as possible. Then, almost by accident, we saw the littlest of the four trying to scramble her way onto the chair.

Suddenly, M growled. "One of the chair legs has caught the corner of the carpet and it's starting to tilt!"

I barked, and together, we successfully got the attention of the tallest of the four, who scurried over to whisk the little mountain climber to safety.

Phew!

That was exciting enough, but what happened next was most surprising.

After the four left, we got on the Internet where we read that a few days ago, Isis, one of the Peregrine falcons in the Radisson Nest Box, did a crash-n-burn when she took her first flight. That made us sad and we wanted to find out how she was doing.

"This is something for the birds," I suggested.

So, we went outside again and enlisted the help of three crows sitting on the overhead wires in the back lane.

"Hey, you three," called M. "Can you do us a favour?"

Immediately, they came up with a plan to help us out. Carli Crow led the way as the three of them took flight. She called out to us over her left wing: "It's only a few miles as the crow flies, so we should be back with an answer for you in no time at all."

From what we found out later, the three flew as far as Route 90, where Carli asked her friend Jonathan Bee to buzz his way to Arlington. There he met Harriet Rabbit and asked her to hop as far as Spence Street, where she conveyed the mission to Darcy Dog. Darcy went as far as he could before flagging down a passing butterfly — oops, forgot to get her name — who agreed to go directly to the source — Isis' mother, Princess.

The relay worked equally well in return, and within the hour we had our answer. Isis had been scooped up by the concerned humans and taken to rehab where she was checked out. All was well and she was released, rejoining her siblings at the nest where they underwent intensive flying therapy.

Double phew!

Hard to beat a day like that, but as I always say, don't count your chickens before they hatch!

T

Canine Capers 3

It was a home day yesterday, and with the promise of rain at some point, we were happy to stay inside and relax.

Jenny had a busy day doing all sorts of things, and then someone came to help her get some newsletters ready for the mail. M wasn't happy - he doesn't like strangers dropping by without warning, but we survived unscathed, so I guess it was all right.

And just when we were thinking that it was going to be an uneventful day, turned out it was.

Hey, even super sleuthy detective dogs need a day off!

T

Canine Capers 2

This detective business is fantastic fun! You never know what's going to happen.

Yesterday, we went out into the yard again - the weather is so incredible right now, who wants to be indoors! Anyway, M - that's code for Mojo - heard a crying voice somewhere in the yard.

"Do you hear that, T?" (Code for ... okay, you get the picture.)

"Yes, it seems to be coming from the back deck."

Together, we quietly creeped along the edge of the house and peeked around the corner. To our surprise, there, huddled against the downpipe, was a little baby rabbit. She didn't see us right away because she was too busy crying, and we decided to wait a bit so we wouldn't scare her.

A few minutes later, M spoke up.

"Hey, little bunny. What's the matter?"

She looked up, and she looked scared.

"I want my mommy!" and then she promptly burst into tears again.

My first thought was, damned cats! They've caught and killed the mom and left this little one all alone. So, I gently asked where her mom was.

"She's at home," she replied between sniffles.

Relieved, I then asked, "So, why aren't you home with her?"

"I was, but I went outside to play and ended up getting lost. I was having so much fun exploring that I didn't watch where I was going. And now I can't find the way back."

At that point, M asked her name, and she smiled a little as she said, "Alice". Then, when we told her that we were friendly detective dogs and would help her find the way back, she brightened up and clapped her tiny front feet together. I think she was happy we were small like her and not at all big and prowly like cats.

Lucky for Alice, with M and me on the hunt, so to speak, we were able to find the trail that would lead her home in no time at all.

"Over here, under the tree in the back corner!" yelled M. "I can see the way through the fence and under the neighbour's shed."

Without waiting for another word, Alice hopped over to where M and I were pointing our paws in the right direction. She was so very happy, and gave us a big smile as she disappeared down the rabbit hole.

And that was the start of a very different story altogether ....

T

Canine Capers 1

Bored now!

Been here, done that. Sleeping, walking, sleeping, eating, sleeping, pats, cuddles, play, sleeping ... blah, blah, blah. Yep, we're so bored, I sat at the back fence all afternoon Saturday watching the world go by. And Mojo can't even be bothered to pee inside. Not so far, at least.

Anyway, on Saturday night, we sat up till late trying to figure out how the heck we are going to enjoy our stay here. And although we were unsuccessful in coming to any conclusion whatsoever, fate and happenstance saved the day.

On Sunday, we were outside, me relaxing in the shade at the back fence, Mojo sunning himself on the lush, green grass. Up walked two dogs - both bigger than us, one black, the other black, tan and white, wearing collars, and the latter one, the smaller of the two, still with his leash attached.

"How very odd," remarked Mojo.

We asked them why they were walking around without their humans, and they said they were out with their human - both owned by the same person, apparently - when he suddenly disappeared. They were looking for him in the back lane.

Then Jenny came outside, and saw them talking to us. She spoke nicely to them, but they turned and walked away. We wished them luck, and off they went.

Jenny was very concerned and went looking to see if anyone was calling out for their dogs. Then Leon came outside, and she told him, "I'm worried about two dogs that were wandering alone in the back lane. They could get hurt, or worse. I think we should go for a walk and see if we can find them and/or their owners."

And that got me and Moj thinking.

All sorts of weird things happen in our neighbourhood. Usually cats are to blame, but sometimes it's all left unexplained, with no one held accountable and outcomes not revealed.

Ah ha! An instant cure for our boredom! WE will sort out the weird things. WE will hold people accountable. WE will make sure everyone knows what happened. And WE will start with the two lost dogs.

Not that they knew it, but we let Jenny and Leon team up with us on our rescue mission. We looked everywhere, sniffing markers along the way to see what we could find out. And then, partway down the front street, we saw them, joyfully reunited with their owner. I yelled out to him, "You better not let that happen again!" and then we walked around, very proud of ourselves, before going home.

Okay, so perhaps not as boring as we thought - as long as the weird stuff keeps happening. But I have a feeling it's going to keep us very busy for the next two weeks. Maybe we'll even open our own agency, but got to think of a name first ....

Stay tuned!

Tika