Over the last couple of weeks, we have been experimenting with letting our two small Min-Pins run around in the courtyard without leashes. That worked pretty well and both dogs were fairly well-behaved and responded to commands to keep out of the back part of the courtyard and to go back into the house when called.
Occasionally, Cabela, the little blue female, would push our patience by trying to sneak back into the forbidden zone, but would usually come back if we commanded in a loud voice. Beethoven, our red boy dog, on the other hand, stuck to the implied rules and stayed where he should – until last evening, that is.
We had both dogs out in the courtyard when one of the big dogs that lives up on the hill across the road started barking. At that point, seemingly without effort, Bay Bay jumped up on the front wall to see what was happening. The wall is a little over three feet high at the point where he jumped up.
Ir scared the crap out of me, since he has been known to run off when loose. Luckily, the little dog trusted me enough to let me walk over to the wall and coax him to let me pick him up and bring him back into the house. It could have been way worse had he jumped out of the courtyard and took off toward the barking dog.
