Stupid Dog

I'll fully admit that Bandit was totally our kid before our kids. He has definitely been demoted on the priority scale that's for sure. The stupid dog (God love him) has caused more anxiety than anything else in my life. We went to Europe 4 years ago, only for him to run away the first time the housesitter came to let him out. There was a full-fledge Bandit alert for him and all our friends were looking for him only for him to come bouncing back two weeks later on his own. The following Christmas we brought him with us to Kentucky so he wouldn't run away...what did he do? Run away, of course! A month after we had Campbell, he decided it had been four long years since he'd had an adventure. So he went for just a short little day trip when our cleaning ladies accidentally let him out, but once again he came back on his own accord.

We discovered that Bandit loves our neighbors so we switch dog sitting duty with each other's dogs while we're out of town. Over the years, it's been a perfect match. Well yesterday our neighbor called to say Bandit had run away. Either he's got a little girlfriend that he sneaks off to see or he has some major emotional problems that he can't take it when we're not there. At this point, I'm thinking you know maybe it's just not meant to be with this crazy dog. Justin and I were bummed of course but also thinking of how nice it will be to not have to get up early in the morning to let him out or deal with accidents in the house. Sure enough, our neighbor calls today to say that he came back home and was barking at the front door. He comes home every time on his own (minus the time he ran away in Kentucky and we found him). I'm picturing that he's running away like he's some rebellious teenager, meets his girlfriend for some wild rendevous, and then realizes after a couple of hours just how cush his life is at home and heads home.

As much as he drives me crazy, I still love that crazy dog. Now let's just see if he runs away again before we get home...