The Adventures of Judah and Tippy

It's always a good day when a boy gets to play with his dog. For the boy, that is.

Lately Judah has loved bringing Tippy into his imaginary world with him. For example, Tippy the garbage truck dog. She had a little carboard box sitting somewhere in the living room that Judah would place her in and drive her around. And then the box became a dog trap. Upside down went the box and then Tippy was lovingly placed inside. I'm not sure how long she was in there. Not long. Boxcar puppy?

Then there was space boy and space dog off on their intrepid adventures across the galaxy. I'm not sure in what universe she would have expected to join Judah in spaceflight, but Tippy managed just fine. She's adaptable. Spontaneous. . . She likes to sit around a lot until Judah comes around and scoops her up to join in his dastardly plans.

They also have real adventures too. Judah took Tippy for a walk the other night.

"Judah, just take her around the back alley and back into the cul-de-sac," we told him.

"Okay."

After they had been gone more than 15 minutes we began to get a little suspicious. They weren't frolicking in the front yard, or in anybody else's yards for that matter. Neither responded to the whistle or to their names. We began to get a little concerned. And then as I was heading out to find Judah, Micah came with a burst of speed toward the house following the fastest moving Tippy we'd ever seen. I didn't last through the explanation as Micah relayed what few details he had to tell Faith. I was gone. I ran towards the direction I had been told (the back alley) and did the loop in a hurry calling out for Judah. One of our neighbours found him down a different alley (where Micah had seen Tippy sprinting out of at top speed chased by a much larger white dog - helpful details and directions that were left out of his explanation to Faith and myself). Judah was fairly shaken up.

What had transpired was this: the boy and his dog went to the 'mosquito' playground down a back alley. He knew which back alley he was supposed to be walking Tippy down, but he chose the one across the road from us so he could take Tippy on the swings and the slides. He claimed that she liked the playground, but I wasn't terribly convinced. On their way home from the playground, A large white dog ran at them from a house that had no fence and chased the two of them. Tippy was going way faster than Judah could handle, so Judah chucked the leash and dove into the corner of a fence trying to hide from the other dog. Well, the big dog followed the bite-sized bait instead of Judah, and Tippy knew right where she was going: home.

She came in all disheveled and breathing heavily, jaw hanging open and jowels drooping, hair standing wildly on end. Our neighbour Craig found Judah and brought him home just as I had cleared our own alley in a sweep. Craig then gave it to the other dog's owner because it had chased him on his bike the other day as well. It wouldn't be the first dog we've reported and had taken from its owners - there was that one Boxer-cross earlier that basically trapped us in our own vehicle whose gate wouldn't close. Anyway - Judah was in trouble, but we had to comfort him and wait for the fear to wear off before we could hear his tale and make sure both he and Tippy were alright. They seem okay. I don't think Tippy's going back to the playground anytime soon, though.