Thursday night Zeke got loose again. I knew there was going to be trouble when I took the dogs out for their last walk of the evening. Zeke had his alert look. His nose was up and testing the air, and then it was down sniffing the ground, and all the while he was ranging back and forth at the end of the leash. It was obvious that some critter was around.

I knew I should have turned right around and taken him back inside, but we continued. I had put the leash loop around my wrist, which gives a solid grip. When we got to the mailbox I rethought that. I pulled the leash down off my wrist and gripped it with my fingers so I could let go quickly. We have a set of steps leading down from the mailbox and I could imagine Zeke pulling me down.

A few seconds after I changed my grip, as we were on our way down the steps, Zeke took off. I didn’t even consider trying to hold onto him. He ran barking down across the driveway and into the woods below the house.

As I have said before, there’s no point in calling Zeke; it was so late it would have disturbed the neighbors, and Zeke won’t come anyway. So I went in and figured we would see him Friday morning. Maybe.

A few minutes after I went back inside, the phone rang. It was a county police officer. He asked if I was missing a dog. I thought about it for a few seconds and then said yes. He was on Lavender Trail down towards Fouche Gap Road, in almost the opposite direction from where he disappeared. So the officer said he would bring Zeke home.

I went out to the road to wait. In a short while they pulled up with Zeke in the back seat, where the delinquents usually ride. The officer was very polite. He asked what kind of dog Zeke was and said he was pretty. I agreed that he was a good-looking dog.

And then Zeke was released into the custody of his parents.

It’s going to be a while before he lives this one down – busted by the county cops.