It happened when our attendant took us with him to visit his brother. This brother lives a short ride from our home on another hill.
Instead of inviting us inside, our attendant and his brother left us outside, tied together and chained to a post.
This in itself was quite an affront. We are house dogs, family dogs. We are not guard dogs or farm dogs. We live with our pack, eat with our pack, play and rest with our pack. So Clio and I were not too happy about this treatment. We pulled and whined, barked and complained but our attendant did not take pity. He was enjoying his dinner, inside in the warmth.
Then a strange thing happened. After we both pulled a lot, suddenly we were no longer chained to the post! At least, I was free and Clio had the chain attached to her, but she was able to run about.
So run about we did. It was too good an opportunity to miss. The woods and trails around there are similar to ours, but not the same. And as evening fell we could hear the animals stirring.
We had a wonderful time, racing here and there, following trails, sniffing and tracking. Clio was held up a bit by the chain, which was long and heavy, but she kept up with me.
After a while we could hear our attendant calling us. We hadn't gone very far; we were near the track that leads to the road home. I led Clio down to show our attendant that we were nearby, but I didn't go right back to him because I knew that our freedom would end if he got hold of us.
It was a delicious freedom. We scooted back up the hill to enjoy some more.
Our attendant kept calling and calling, but in the end we heard his car and soon enough he was following us up the hill.We stayed within sight of the car but we didn't go too close.
By now it was really dark and much more exciting because we could hear the deer and the wild boar in the woods around us. I was very keen to chase the deer and the boar.
Our attendant stopped the car at the top of the hill, just off the road that goes home. It's a quiet road; not many cars pass by, specially at night. He kept calling us from the car. This went on for a long time: us in the woods and him in the car, calling.
Suddenly, a family of boar crossed the road right near the car. I went crazy: this is the sort of thing I was born for!
But Clio got scared. She scuttled back to the car and jumped in, dragging the chain behind her.
I was having none of that. I'm not scared. I would chase the boar, with or without Clio. I pelted through the bushes after them. I pounced on one of the smaller ones, a straggler.
We tussled. I gripped its head in my teeth. It squealed and dug its little tusks into my chest. I jerked away and it escaped. Too bad. I had almost caught it. I shook myself a bit and raced after but I didn't manage to catch it again. Those boar can be fast when they want.
My attendant must have seen the boars too. He was calling and calling. He sounded worried. But I wasn't worried.
I was having the time of my life.
We stayed on the hill all night. I only came back to the car when I finished trailing and chasing as many deer, foxes, pine martens, boar and squirrels as I could. Then I stayed outside the car even though my attendant tried to get me to jump back in.
Eventually my attendant fell asleep, with Clio in the back. Finally, as day was dawning, I decided to get in the car. It was time for our attendant to take us home for breakfast.
But I think he was pretty cross. He said something on his phone about his battery running out.
The sun was just up when we got home. I had a wonderful breakfast and a really good sleep. I had to lick the wound on my chest; my attendants took me to the vet and I had some stitches there.
But it was worth it. That was a night to remember, my night on the hill.
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