Free Dog Jack

Well Jack was at it again; out on another "walk about". A couple of weeks ago I sent Annie and Jack out into their yard for their last puppy break for the day. The time was about 9:15pm. I go out about 10:00 to bring them in and lo and behold, no puppies. Now once in a while Annie has popped one of the white vinyl pickets and dashed out in to the wide open yard, but she always comes back when called. Jack has always stayed in the yard. He is not one to go through narrow spaces. What if one of those other pickets touched me. He is like that about other things in the house. He doesn't go down stairs to the basement if the door is partially closed. He doesn't go behind a door to get a toy and especially not behind the rocking chair---yikes! Did you see that? The chair moved! That is how he got his name Chicken Jack. So you can only imagine my shock when I see Jack streaking across the backyard and into the deep dark dense woods. Annie was gone too, but quickly returned when I called her name. I guess this night, two pickets came off and the lure of being a free dog was too much. He made a run for it. Chicken Jack grew a brave heart. The sights and sounds of the night were too much. He was on some heady drug. He was at Disney Land. He was gone into the night. Now in the past when this has happened he returns in about 20-30 minutes. He is usually panting and covered in stick tights. In the past his great escapes have been during daylight hours, now it was night and time for dogs and humans to be in bed. I stayed in the yard calling to him with my "happy voice", calling out to him with the tempting names of his favorite toys "purple ball", "rope toy", and "lime loop". Jack knows his toys by name, but the lure of the night was too much. John got in the truck and drove down to the meadow and up to the pasture calling his name. We hoped that Jack would see the truck lights and think "Ok a ride". Again the lure of the night.....
John came back to the house and decided to grab a flashlight and trudge a path into the woods in search of his buddy. I heard him calling his name. Then to my left I hear noise in the woods. I call Jack's name. I spot him. He is about 10 feet away. He sees me, turns and runs back into the woods. The stinker. I call to John. He makes his way back to me. I tell him I saw Jack. This of course was a big relief, because honestly we didn't know if Jack was on the scent of something how far he would go. A border collie can cover 5 miles in no time and even though highway MM is not busy it only takes one unsavy dog and one car to have a tragedy. So big sigh of relief, mixed with frustration/aggravation. John heads back into the woods calling his name. Then there is silence. John turns off his flashlight. We listen to the sounds of the woods and see the darkness lit with little glows of lightening bugs. Then I hear a woof and John's voice low. A few moments later man and dog are walking into the yard. John and I give each other that look, "Can you believe that dog". We are relieved. Jack is exhausted, but happy. It was 11:45pm.