A Dog in the Hall....

Come to find out, via our neighbor who is a military policeman, there has been some crime in the neighborhood lately. It's a nice neighborhood, which means we are prime targets for burglars. But here on our little cul-de-sac, the general feeling is we are pretty safe because we have Juneau, the three legged Malamute who has a WOO-WOO-WOO that could wake the dead. AND, he isn't afraid to use it if he sees anyone he doesn't recognize. At let me not forget Miss Jessie, who loves everyone but is also serious about protecting her property. Both roam the large front yard freely (but with the constraint of the invisible fence).

I love my dogs and write about them often. They are wonderful animals who perform a service in our "pack" every day. They warn, they protect - they have our backs. I will NEVER forget the night I was alone in the house and decided to take a shower at, oh...about 2:00 AM. Jessie laid down in the hall and I was in the shower, with the bathroom door closed - and had just finished lathering up my head. Then it happened - the power went out - PITCH BLACK. There I was, with shampoo everywhere, in total darkness.

I've never sat down and watched Psycho from beginning to end, but I have seen the shower scene and of course it was uppermost in my mind as I frantically rinsed my hair and turned the water off. I was just sure some escaped felon had cut the power lines and was at that moment making his way towards the bathroom. THEN I remembered Jessie! Jessie, who was lying in the hall, would not have been silent if there was a stranger in the house. That thought calmed me enough to open the door and set one foot into the hall.

Suddenly I felt a cold nose on my leg, and then a warm tongue start to lick the water off my feet. Jessie stayed right by my side as I made my way to the kitchen and got a flashlight. The whole neighborhood was dark. A simple power outage. As I said, I will never forget that experience, or how thankful I was to have my four legged guardian angel with me.