Last week I was assigned light duty, because my patrol partner, Asa, also known as Bowling Ball, crashed into me. While I recovered from a slight limp, I had no choice but to allow him to carry on neighborhood patrol without me. Rarely anything happens on our daily patrols, so I thought what’s the worst that could happen? I’ll tell you what’s the worst. Asa brought home a puppy! Meet LeBron!
LeBron is a foster puppy, being cared for by our neighbors. He is named after the basketball player, because they share the ability to move fast and jump high. Traits I was privileged to see when we first met him a couple weeks ago, as he slipped his collar and outran his foster Dad to meet me. Since that time, LeBron has proven himself to be quite the escape artist, and has been seen on adventures around his foster home.
However, on the evening in question, Asa encountered LeBron quite far from his home, as he came bounding out of the woods to say, “hello!” Given the lack of a spare leash, and the long distance to his foster home, versus the closer proximity of our house, Asa and Dad made the wise decision to lead LeBron back here.
Unfortunately, they then made the unwise decision of leaving LeBron alone in the fenced in backyard while Dad ran inside to get his phone. Yep, you guessed it. In the seconds it took Mom to run out, LeBron, who should have been named Houdini, escaped again. While she began her foot pursuit, a kind citizen wrangled him into her car, and then dropped him off at our house. LeBron was safely in our custody again! And this time, as patrol commander, I wasn’t about to take my eye off of him.
Locked in my crate, we waited for his foster family to see Dad’s texts. I was hoping that his time in puppy prison would get him thinking about the mistakes he made, and to rethink the path he is headed down in life. Nope. LeBron kept trying to lick me, and charm me with his puppy ways. You picked the wrong guard for that young pup! When he realized that his plan wasn’t working, things got messy. LeBron relieved himself in MY crate! Thankfully, Mom predicted that would happen, and had the cleaning supplies ready, for both my crate and LeBron, who accidentally sat in his puddle. Puppies are such messy little creatures!
Meanwhile, Asa was no help at all! Despite this being his responsibility, or guest, depending on how you look at it, Asa went on with our usual evening routine! He was patiently sitting in the living room ready to watch television. Eventually, he got the hint and returned to take over guard duty. But I remained close. LeBron could have easily beguiled Asa into setting him free.
Finally, LeBron’s flustered foster Mom appeared at our door. After entertaining us with the stories of the mischief this very intelligent puppy got into in just the past couple days, never mind his two weeks with them, she happily announced that LeBron was going home to his forever family the following afternoon! We wish that family all the best, because LeBron has a big personality for a little puppy. Perhaps he is accurately named after all!
