mudpies's Blog

The great escape artist
Aug 5, 2009 | 7:30 AM PST
Tags: cotula , hosta , Calendula , stonecrop , bugloss

Yesterday was a bit stressful.  My found hound managed to free himself yet again.  I call him my found hound because a neighbour, assuming he was one of C's hunting dogs, brought him to us about four years ago.  He was really skinny, but still full of energy.  The vet thinks he was about a year old at the time - still not much more than a big, awkward puppy.  I thought that he may have been left behind by a hunter after he wandered too far, so I told everyone I knew, put an ad in the local paper, and made posters and put them up all over town with negative results.  I fell in love with him, dubbed him Clyde, and allowed him to adopt us.  (As time went by, having become intimately acquainted with the little rascal, I now believe he may have been discarded by a hunter.  He's gun-shy to the point of cowering, trembling and hiding whenever he hears a loud noise.)

Now, one would think that a foundling would be an inexpensive proposition.  WRONG!!  First came an initial veterinary examination - $$$.  Clyde was underweight and needed high-protein food - $$$, and flea protection - $$$.  Of course, I just had to buy him a nice collar and retractable leash - $$$.  Next, I needed to trim his claws.  That precipitated a fruitless episode of extreme exertion on my part and on C's.  Hence, he goes to the vet every six weeks for a pedicure - $$$, $$$, $$$.  He's a runner, so I had to buy a long chain - $$$.  Then he barked incessantly at dogs, passing motorists, squirrels, pedestrians, etc.  Out of consideration for my neighbours, I bought a 'bark collar' - $$$.  This particular device, while effective, gave him an electrical shock each time he barked.  I came to regard it as cruel, so I bought a different kind - an equally effective one that sprays eucalyptus whenever he barks - $$$.  (He eventually learned not to bark all the time and no longer needs to wear that collar.)  One day when C had taken him for a walk, he bolted after a squirrel and broke his retractable leash, so I bought a new, heavy-duty one - $$$.  It lasted a few months till he decided to chase something again, so I had to buy a conventional leash - $$$.  On his second visit to the vet, she discovered he had a mild case of heartworm and needed medication for that - $$$.  When he nearly had a heart attack from fear of a thunderstorm, I took him back to the vet who prescribed tranquilizers - $$$.  He eventually became overweight, so I need to buy special food to try (unsuccessfully) to slim him down - $$$.

 Yesterday, he managed to slip his collar for the umpteenth time.  Because he has a small head (due, no doubt, to a lack of brains) and a fat neck (due to his propensity for stealing the cat's food), I couldn't make it smaller without strangling him.  I happened to look outside to see him capering all over the busy street beside my house.  I've learned not to chase him because he regards that as a game and allows me to get within a foot of him before he runs off again.  I got some venison sausage out of the fridge and, after waiting for traffic to clear, coaxed him across the street and into the house by making a trail of sausage bits.  Then I headed for the local Co-op to buy a harness - $$$.  He is, without a doubt, the most expensive found hound in history.

Not only that, but the nursery at the Co-op had an end-of-season sale of perennials.  I've been attending 'Plant Buyers Anonymous' meetings regularly, but the temptation was just too much yesterday.  When I couldn't reach my sponsor, I had a serious relapse and bought some more - a stonecrop (even though I have one at home that I could split), a spotted bellflower calendula, a beautiful little gold hosta, a spotted bugloss, and one that I've never seen before - a cotula 'Pratt's Black Brass Buttons', all for $10.00.  While I tend to be frugal in most other aspects of my life, I'm afraid I overspend drastically on pets and plants.