Sprinkles&Stones
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- May 19, 2020
- Messages
- 1,993
I have a lifetime of small incidents, like the one at the hairdresser. I'd embarrass myself to that degree once a week - even now. But this next one was special....
So DH and I adopted a beautiful, beautiful field English Setter. I called her Dapple - because she was white with grey spots, like dappled shadow, and because - as I always told people - she was d'apple of her mommy's eye! Awwwww!
Here's Dapple - aka Dappy - aka the Dapster - aka Princess Dapple:
Dapple was put into rescue because she and her twin brother were both deaf - as is quite common for spotted dogs; the gene that controls hearing is attached to the same gene for spots! Consequently, a lot of English setters and dalmatians are deaf. Despite being completely deaf, tho, Dapple could feel vibrations, so if we stamped on the floor sufficiently, or clapped our hands very loudly, she'd sense the vibration and would come to us, knowing that we were calling her.
So, shortly after DH and I got Dapple, our other dog, a hugely beautiful and successful show dog, had a show weekend up in Canada. We decided that DH would take him to his shows and Dapple and I would stay at home. DH and dog-son left on Friday and the weekend progressed uneventfully. On Sunday morning, I woke up, kinda groggy, dragged myself out of bed, fed Dapple, and went into my office to check my email. So this is where I admit that I sleep in the nick and often wander around my house sans clothes in the morning before I've had my shower.
it was a glorious, utterly still, sunny, quiet Sunday morning, and my office window - that ran from ceiling to about 2ft (think - just above my knees) above the floor - was open. My office was on the second floor, and outside, beneath us, was the verandah that ran off the first floor. That verandah had a roof over it, so if you stood at the window in my office, you looked down directly onto the verandah roof below.
I'm sitting at my desk, and out the corner of my eye, I see something move - and moving FAST. I turn - just in time to see Dapple race across the room and fly - and I mean FLY - out the office window, sailing through the air, and land, stumbling, on the verandah roof below. She slides down the verandah roof, but catches her paw in the gutter, *just* before going over the edge, and stops. She straightens up, shakes herself, trots half way up the roof, and stands, surveying the view around her new home. She's about 15' off the ground.
I think 3 things at once:
"DH is not here - I have to solve this myself."
"If I don't get her off this roof, she will fall and be hurt or killed."
"DH has the car. I cannot get this dog to the vet if she falls."
You'll note that one of the things I did NOT think was - "Oh sh*t - I'm naked."
I throw back my chair and know I can attract her attention if I make enough noise. Remember - it's 8 am on a Sunday morning.
So, leaning waaaaay out the window, buck naked, I start banging the window sill, clapping my hands, doing my super-loud fingers-in-the-mouth type whistle, and SCREAMING her name. Because I know - speaking - calling - even mild yelling - will not attract her attention. So I am BELLOWING and BANGING and POUNDING out a second story window in a tightly packed NY suburban neighborhood on a still and silent Sunday morning - totally naked from top to knees.
For a minute or two, Dapple ignores me (and I KNOW she 'hears' me, because she is giving me side eye - juuuuust avoiding making direct eye contact) - and trots proudly up and down the length of the verandah roof, occasionally losing her footing and sliding down into the gutter, then trotting further up the verandah roof again, before repeating the process. Finally she sits.
But luckily for me, it was high summer, and the verandah roof was metal. After a minute more of me screaming and her ignoring me, she decides the roof is too hot for her tush, she has seen all there is to see, and oh-so-delicately, she stands, shakes herself off, and trots, grinning, up to me at the window, hops over the window ledge, and into the room.
I slam the window closed, and sink, shaking like a leaf, into my office chair. She comes and puts her front paws on my lap, checking I'm ok and letting me know she is "Here for you, new mommy!" I, OF COURSE, give her a treat and a pat and tell her she is a very good girl for coming back inside.
The neighbors never mentioned it. But I know for a fact they were all at home and there is NO WAY they didn't hear me. I was in full view of 5 other houses.
Better than the circus.
Now THAT story make my Friday grumpies go away in a instant! Oh @mrs-b that truly is giggle worthy! Hehehe thank you for sharing! What a little IMP!