After the first few wild months of taking Laika and Ramona to Hot Dog Dam (see yesterday's story), Missy bought a new house that was in another area of town. The house was very nice, with a view of some community gardens, a small grassy backyard and several parking spots that seemed to be carved out of a steep-ish hill behind the house. In reality, this was actually the site of an old garage with only a few walls remaining to retain the space of the concrete parking pad On two sides they were about 8 ft, with trees and other brush growing above them on the hill.
The immediate backyard was not yet fenced-in, but it was ok because the only way out was down a narrow driveway beside the house due to fences on the adjoining properties. Ramona and Laika were able to frolic in the backyard while Missy and I stood in the driveway to contain them. (In reality, it was just to contain Laika, because Ramona was very easy-going and didn't particularly care to try to get out.) It was a good place for the pups to play and after just a few times, Laika was more focused on playing than trying escape to explore, so that was a relief.
However, as the initial excitement of going to Missy's wore off, Laika didn't have to look too far to find excitement in the backyard. Occasionally, she would see cats, squirrels and rabbits while we were outside. Sometimes she would give chase, but rarely did she venture out of the grass patch between the backdoor, the driveway and the "wild" hillside that went above the parking area. When she spied something in the trees or on the hill, she would usually just give a few proud barks of alert, stiffen her tail (and puff out the anxiety-ball at the base of it) and then take a few lunges toward the offending-animal. When Missy or I would call her, she would hesitantly listen and wag her tail happily before trying to go into mild alert-mode again.
One day, though, while Missy and I were standing in the driveway, Laika became extremely overstimulated by a brazen squirrel that ran across the grass and started up the hill. Upon seeing it, Laika flew into action. Before Missy or I could call her, she was bounding through the bushes and up the steep hill behind the "garage". She was giving such chase that plants were shaking as she passed and the sound of crunching leaves was almost deafening! Laika was fast, but the squirrel was faster and climbed a tree just out of her reach. Big Baby stopped to assess the situation about halfway up the hill, which was just above the level of the walls around the parking area. From where we stood, Laika looked a bit confused so we called her to come back down. Just then, another squirrel was making noise directly next to us. What happened next, as can be guessed, was pure insanity.
Seeing the new squirrel, Laika honed her attention on it from her high vantage point. Since a straight line is the shortest path between two points, her route was directly toward us. This would have been good, except there was an 8 ft drop to the parking pad! This didn't matter at all to Superdog. After her first few bounding strides, she achieved full liftoff and soared through the air, legs fully-extended just like she was diving at Hot Dog Dam. I remember seeing Missy's open-mouthed look of concerned terror as Laika landed on the pavement, the momentum carrying her into a barrel-roll with a bit of a skid that somehow unclasped her collar in the process. And, just like that, she was off and running after the squirrel down the driveway. I could not believe my eyes and my stomach was in my throat thinking that Laika was hurt! Immediately, I also worried that Laika would run into the street...but as luck would have it, the squirrel climbed the neighbor's fence quickly, causing Superdog to stop her chase about 10 feet away from us.
I yelled Laika's name at that point and she just kind of sat down and looked at me with a completely innocent look on her face, her tail wagging with extreme excitement. I ran to grab her, so she couldn't get away again and hugged her tightly as I inspected her for damage. The whole time, she was wiggling like a ball of energy...trying to kiss me and look for more things to chase at the same time. Missy handed me the collar, which just had a few scratches from the pavement. Ramona just sat there and looked at Laika with an amused look on her face, all the time observing and judging. Since everything was ok, Missy laughed so hard about the whole episode and gave me guff about having a complete idiot for a dog. I agreed, but thought it was really funny in hindsight, but scary overall. I mentioned that to combat these stunt dog tendencies, I would get pet insurance for Laika really soon. The whole time, Laika just stood around like nothing had happened, wagging her tail and trying to get Ramona to play with her.
In the aftermath of Laika's flight and crash-landing, several important things happened. First, a lead was installed in Missy's backyard for Laika to use, so she couldn't reach the launchpad again. It was the best thing to do to keep her safe, while also allowing her some freedom to roam around and play. Additionally, the next day, I called Petplan USA and purchased accident/emergency for my goofy stunt dog. This proved to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. From then on, Laika was covered, but her flying license was permanently revoked!
This probably stands as one of the more definitive stories of Laika-ness, as it involves excitement, danger and, luckily, no animals being harmed in its making! I am just glad that Stunt Dog's last flight was not an unfortunate ending, but a positive step in creating boundaries and, most importantly, inspiring me to take extra responsibility by purchasing insurance for Laika. If only I had a photo of Laika soaring through the air...it would make a great ad for Pet Plan!
Stunt Dog waiting to leap off of Elaina's lap!
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