Oooooooohhhhh…..Terriers…..

They are in a category all their own…..

…..all their very own…..

My older daughter’s Jack Russell is typical where “Terriers” are concerned…..

…..he warrants a clothesline & a chain snapped to his harness whenever he goes outside…..

…..otherwise he gnaws through it…..

…..and after he’s finished gnawing through it…..

…..he wanders…..and roams…..and vagabonds…..or basically just runs away…..

…..things to do…..people to see…..treats to beg…..

Earlier this week…..early in the morning…..while it was still dark…..

I had let all of the Wolfhounds outside for their potty-potty-routine…..

…..they did their thing and willingly/almost immediately came back inside…..

But no Jack Russell???

He was NOWHERE to be found…..

…..his entire chain was gone…..

…..even the galvanized metal link attaching him to the clothesline was missing…..?…..

Wwwhhhaaattt!!!…..

So my older daughter and I did a quick/local check of the back yard…..barefooted/in the dark/in our jammies…..

…..no Drogo…..

…..but lots of nettles plus the added perk of steamy/squishy/warm plops of new/morning/dog-doo-doo…..

…..between our barefooted toes…..

…..(I don’t want to talk about it)…..

…..(hard to get any traction in…..and equally hard to scrub off later in the bath tub)…..

So we put on our daytime clothes…..appropriate nettle-guarding-footwear…..

…..survival gear…..and head-lamps…..

…..and we ventured into/around/and through ALL of the adjoining swampland…..

…..FOR MORE THAN TWO & ONE-HALF HOURS!…..

Were we happy about this…..?

…..OH…..HELL…..NO…..!

Were our imaginations running wild…..?

…..OH…..HELL…..YES….!

Was I sure that a coyote or SOMETHING had carried him off…..and was currently flossing his teeth with Drogo’s toenails…..?

OH MY…..YES!

But after awhile…..the screws in my daughter’s hip were giving out…..

And my artificial joints were smoking like burning plastic…..

So we headed home to make “Lost Dog” signs…..re-fuel…..and re-group…..

We did one last lap around the backyard…..

…..the Wolfhounds were pointing to where Drogo was standing…..

…..he was in a hole…..behind the old/abandoned bee hive stand…..

But my daughter and I had BOTH CHECKED that EXACT place TWICE!?!

AND DROGO WASN’T THERE!?!

My daughter unceremoniously dragged him out (ass-first) from his self-made hole…..

…..only to find the next critter in-line down the hole was a very frightened armadillo…..

…..Drogo had been trying to dig out poor Mr. Dillo…..

…..but Drogo HAD NOT been there the entire time!…..

…..WHERE WAS HE FOR MORE THAN 2 1/2 HOURS!?!…..

Because my daughter AND I had both checked that old deck…..I had even gotten down on my hands and knees earlier to thoroughly check it out…..

…..(not an easy feat for me)…..

We were NOT happy with the Drogo-nator…..

We were NOT happy with the 2 1/2+ hours spent traipsing through the swamp and nettles and dog poop…..

…..even though Drogo wasn’t eaten by a coyote…..

…..so that’s a plus…..

I did go back later to make sure Mr. Dillo had made a clean get-away…..

…..he had….

My daughter and I both hoped that Mr. Dillo took advantage of having being terrorized by a terrier…..

…..and hopefully Mr. Dillo pooped in Drogo’s mouth…..

…..it would’ve served him right!…..

Terriers…..gotta’ luv ’em…..(?)…..