My last post was about our tough Rottweiler growling (from the safety of behind her window) at a coyote in our yard. Here’s an update that might make you laugh.
Yesterday morning I let her out into the back yard and she disappeared. Our backyard is small and fenced, but she was gone. I looked everywhere using the flashlight, but no dog. I checked the house multiple times. I finally woke the husband. He started searching and I got in the truck to drive the area.
As I came around the backside of the fence, I saw a dark shape go into the bushes. I told my husband to check back there because she’d obviously got out somehow. A few minutes later he called and said she was in the house.
I’d checked the house. Thoroughly. He said her fur was cold like she’d just come in (our snow isn’t that long gone so it’s still chilly).
In daylight, he looked around but found no spot where she could have escaped the fence.
Mystery unsolved.
This morning I had to go out to our shop. The dog went with me. But she acted strangely. She stayed glued to my side and at the shop she raced ahead of me to get inside, and then didn’t want to come out. When I finally got her to come out, she walked glued to me again.
My husband said maybe she was smelling the coyote and was scared.
So when she was missing she could very well have just been hiding. Four in the morning, no ambient light, a black dog…she could have been under the deck with her eyes screwed shut and no flashlight beam would have found her.
And then driving to work afterwards, some pieces fell together.
It’s spring. Bears are coming out of hibernation but no berries are out yet.
Last year we had a bear come over the fence into the back yard.
There was that black shadow I saw outside the fence going into the bushes.
If the dog was hiding, what did I send my husband into the bushes to find?
And maybe…just maybe…we should pay more attention when our dog is scared outside.
Lisa Stowe - The Story River Blog 
All’s well that ends well! Animals do have a way of speaking to us (I have a cat and a horse and I’ve experienced similar situations, especially with my mare) – we just have to learn to listen.
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So true. Learning to listen and read their cues. I’m sure she was thinking ‘you idiot!’ As an aside, I loved learning how to communicate with horses and read their cues and body language. Beautiful animals.
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Wow! A bear would have been the last thing I’d have thought of — we rarely see them, since they seem to be so good at avoiding us. I’ve only seen two in the whole time I’ve lived here and both were in the Woodinville area. Sadly, one was dead — a victim of an encounter with a car on 522 near Costco. The other was hurrying past the riding arena where I was giving a lesson!
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I’ve had so many bear encounters, including some way too close for comfort. Last year one came over our fence into the back yard.
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Wow! Thank God you all are safe.
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Last year we had a bear come over the fence into the back yard to retrieve a garbage bag. He hauled the bag back up and over the fence. So yeah, I should really start paying attention to the dog! She might be smarter than me.
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ugh! Vala is hilarious… she is smart, maybe you really should listen to her weirdness more times 😉 I hope you dont get more bears, or maybe overthink the garden idea?
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Well, the bear that came over the fence into the yard last year was after a garbage bag. Garden products usually get scarfed up too fast by the dogs to even make it to us, let alone a bear!
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The thought of Vala hiding is too funny, but probably smart! We have lots of coyotes in my area and I hear them most nights. Dogs around here will sometimes runaway with them I’ve heard. My Zoey hears them way before I do and she is always acting protective of me, or now that I think about it after hearing your story, maybe she’s scared!
On a side note, I have a friend that communicates with animals. She has a business where she gives therapy (to humans) on horses. It’s always interesting to hear her stories.
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