Baa-ad Bandit and His Enabler
Before I tell this story, you must know that the entire reason we ever got sheep was the keep our one acre lawn mowed. It only took one summer of mowing that green hell before we decided we needed a new plan and so last spring we purchased the sheep and fenced the yard in. Part of having the sheep and fence is the fact we must open and close a gate to get into our yard...more on that later.
In the meantime, a few weeks ago, we added a second fenceline around the immediate house area. While it was nice having the sheep "mow" every nook and cranny of the yard, it also meant they had trashed our landscaping (not to mention the unsettling moments when you looked up from the sofa and saw a sheep staring at you through the living room window). The new fence gave us a small "inner yard", easily mowed in 15 minutes with a push mower, and something I could actually grow some flowers in.
This new inner yard also meant that Bandit could no longer stand by the back door and attempt to sneak in the house...which he did ALL. THE. TIME. prior to the fence build. He was despondent for days--baaing at the gate and being generally pathetic every time he saw us. He absolutely could not stand the fact he couldn't claim human attention whenever he wanted it.
And so in the last few days, he started a new tack: Hanging around the driveway to the main gate, chasing the car like a crazed dog and then attempted to sneak through the gate when the car went through. It has been maddening for the humans but Bandit found it to be a great game. He ran, we chased him, we stopped and called him nicely (sometimes with treats) and he got the attention he wanted-negative or positive, he just wants the attention.
Enter this morning..my first day back at work after surgery and I was in a hurry. Bandit went careening down the driveway beside the car but I thought I was going to make it through the gate. I got the car through and got out to close the gate and then little *&^*&^*& went sprinting by me.
I chased, I cajoled, I may have even cried a little bit but Bandit was absolutely not going to let me catch him. Finally, fed up, I decided to leave him outside the gate. Afterall, I knew he wouldn't go far without his best friend Bonnie (who was standing politely inside, wondering what all the fuss was about).
I texted Nathan to let him know to look for Bandit and let him in when he got home first. And so he did---it involved a 20 minute romp through the briars and trees of the shelterbelt but by the time I drove in, Nathan and Bandit were back in the yard.
And this is where Evie took over. All the way home, she was nearly in tears that we had not caught him in the morning and when she found him the yard, she begged for me to let him in the house because "he is so sad" and "he was so lonely all day" and "Mom, this is all your fault for not catching him". And so let him in I did.
And then she wouldn't let me put him out again. This was the face I got when I finally put my foot down and told them Bandit was absolutely going outside again.
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