A Vanishing Tale

Keep Calm. She can't be far away. Call her. Blissssssssssssssss? Not there.

Podge. One minute she's at the end of the garden hiding her 'sock puppy' and the next minute she has vanished. I really thought the fence was completely fixed.

Out of the gate, round to the neighbour's garden - no sign of Bliss. Check the ponds and dykes - no Bliss - phew!

An unsuspecting early morning male dog walker, dutifully displaying his dog's pooh in a plastic bag, approached me, a semi-clothed rather ancient female trying desperately to describe a Dandie Dinmont Terrier to someone who had never seen one.

"I've lost my puppy" I wailed. "Can you keep an eye out for her please? She is long, brownie coloured, very friendly - she's called Bliss and she lives over there". Of course he said he would.

Then I began to get suspicious - 'Nature' wasn't in a panic. The birds weren't singing their warnings. Duck couples were still waddling down the middle of the road and the rabbits were still re-enacting Watership Down. No Dandie Puppy was causing mayhem in their world.

Returning to my garden, still shouting the 'B' word interlaced with 'come here' and 'now' and, pathetically, 'good girl' in case she had taken offence as only a Dandie can, there was still no sign of her.

I am not a panicker. It doesn't solve anything. Far better to stop and work out the options. So I went into the house and thought. Where on earth could she be? There were only four rooms and a garden that she had access to. Surely I should be able to find her.

A final 'come here' and I heard a 'squeak'. There she was sitting on the stairs, confined by the baby-gate that she was supposed to be on the other side of. Squeaking - and I mean squeaking - it's her equivalent of every other Dandie's bark as a method of demanding something. How she managed to be there I will never know. I had been sitting in a chair by the door watching her at the end of the garden and when I went to see where she was she must have doubled back. The little minx!

Lesson remembered (I learned it long ago but had forgotten):

"If one is in the house, Come Here doesn't apply 'cos I'm already here. It's not my fault if the human can't find/see me - I am already here."

Oh Bliss!!!!!!!!!!