We were jolted away from our various pursuits yesterday afternoon by an ungodly screaming coming from the barnyard. It sounded as though one of the dogs had been kicked by an angry donkey, or hit by a car, or attacked by a cougar or bear!

I was working in my office, so ran to a west-facing window to see what was going on. B was puttering around the house, he headed for the back deck. K was closest, re-fortifying a veggie patch fence against chicken depredations. Reaching the scene first, she found a terrified little dog, shaking like a leaf behind the barn.

Putting two and two together, and in the complete absence of killer cars, equines, cougars or bears, she surmised that poor Chance must have become tangled in the electric fence gate, which hung loosely at the corner of the barn. Ouch, that would have been a shock.

Relieved that no lasting damage appeared to have been done, we returned to our various tasks. Chance stayed out with K, refusing to venture more than three feet from her side the rest of the afternoon. After supper, he glued himself to me all evening, even choosing to follow me to bed (his kennel is just outside our room) rather than than stay up late, like he usually does, with B.

This morning, and in the general excitement, he forgot his fear long enough to make it out the back door with Liza and me, but out in the barnyard, when I looked for him a little while later, he was nowhere in sight. He had retreated to the carport, where he cowered, waiting for another bolt out of the blue.

Later in the morning, I once more headed outside. This time, he came as far as the stairs, and, with a great deal more encouragement, as far as the back door, but that was it. No further would he go.

Poor little guy, he sure has been spooked. One of his favourite places on earth has morphed into a dystopian nightmare where excruciating pain strikes at random. Oh the unpredictability and inexplicability of it all! I wonder how long before he forgets, and takes up his crown to be king of his small kingdom again. Not too long I hope.