Fickle mutt

We took Monty to the kennel for the first time on his own.  His last kennel experience left him a little skittish, but I'd heard nothing but good things about this one.*  The kennel owners came and got Monty the day before our wedding and he was to stay a week.  I wanted to call and check on him regularly, but restrained myself.  Barely.  It took a lot of shopping and Vegas shows to do it.

This morning, we went to pick him up.  The kennel is about 1/2 hour out of town on a farm.  We hadn't been there before, but with some directions we made it.  We pulled into the yard and saw row upon row of dogs.  They rushed from their kennels to see if it was their owners coming to retrieve them.  They barked their greetings from the moment we hit the road to the moment we pulled up in front of them.

I saw Monty wandering the yard on his own.  I figured he was let out to play in preparation for our arrival.  He came to the fence to inspect us just as the other dogs did, but as soon as we made our way toward him, he bolted like a bat out of hell.  Tail between his legs, running as fast as he could, he disappeared behind the building.  The Guy made chase while I paid the bill.

According to the owner, Monty was a bit standoffish, but did well overall.  He finally warmed up to the female owner about two days before.  Other than that, there were no problems.  I paid and The Guy came in - sans dog.  He hadn't been able to convince Monty to come with him.  I figured I would give it a try.

The owner went around back to corral Monty toward us.  Monty saw us from one end of the yard but wouldn't come closer despite me calling him.  I walked closer.  He stood there until we neared and then bolted the other way.  He was caught between us and the owner, but still managed to psyche out the owner and dart away.  After a few minutes of this, I was done.


MONTY, THAT IS ENOUGH.  COME HERE RIGHT NOW.

Monty stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder.  His tail was still down, but he wagged a little.  He moved to escape again.


MONTY.  HERE.  NOW.

Suddenly, Monty knew who we were and ran straight for us.  He jumped off the ground to my waist.  He was thrilled to see us.  We had cuddles and kisses galore.  I set him down and he trotted beside us as we went inside to make an appointment for when we're away in the winter.  Monty wandered the office. 

I noticed Monty was no where to be seen.  It was then I heard a great commotion in the other room where the larger dogs were kennelled.  The little troublemaker had opened the staff door to the kennels and was tormenting the large dogs in their kennels.  I hollered for him to come back and he pretended to listen, but only so he could go torment the German Shepherd he had missed on his first go.  I scooped him up and hauled him out of the room.

Surprisingly enough, he's still welcome there.





*If you're in the city that rhymes with fun and need a kennel K-Lane is the one to use.  They are awesome and do pick-up/drop off for the exceptionally busy and/or lazy.