I mentioned that Lincoln was a runner.

I should have kept track of how many times he ran, where he went and how we got him home.

Many times when anyone, especially our young grandchildren would open the door, he found a way to slide right on out that door and run free like a convict on the loose.

Usually someone would see him and the chase was on.

Oh he knew we were after him.  

He’d let us get almost close enough to grab him and off he’d go.  

Sometimes we wouldn’t even know he had escaped until we’d get a call from someone that they had our dog!

We lived in a golf cart community.

It was the same story every time, he wandered up to people out on their patio, he’d play the stray dog role, they’d bring him inside, give him water, he’d eat THEIR dogs food if it was sitting around and then he’d find their sofa, jump up and take a snooze.

That’s when they’d read his tags and we’d get the call.  

We’d give them our address and go stand outside and wait and in minutes, here he’d come in the passenger side of the golf cart with that silly Chevy Chase grin on his face.  

So often he was too funny to even think about being mad at him.  

He didn’t care if we were mad anyways.

Lincoln was to us, the definition of the word WHATEVER.

He really didn’t care about any consequences…..whatever.

He just went with the flow, enjoyed every day…..whatever.

That was Lincoln.

Dogs were allowed at the Assisted Living Home where my mom lived.  

My mom was never a real pet person but she loved Lincoln so I often brought him with me on my daily visits.

One day the nurse coming in made the fatal mistake of leaving the door open and, Lincoln was gone, running wild and free up and down the 3-story building. 

The chase was on. 

We would catch glimpses of him running past different hallways.

We would hear different yells from the residents with their walkers as he ran past them.

It took over half an hour to corral that beast.

He was following his nose to the dining room and that’s where we found him trying desperately to get up on the tables with the food.

Lincoln would do anything and go anywhere in the name of FOOD.

Within minutes of him being caught, the administrator found us and let us know that although pets were allowed in the building, that invitation no longer was extended to Lincoln.

Lincoln was kicked out of the Care Center!

Another horrible time was one day when I was at work and Lobo was home alone with Lincoln.

Lobo opened the door unthinking and Lincoln was on the run.

Now, as far as Lobo was concerned, this was his big chance…..let him run!

But, he knew the wrath he’d face if I returned home to find my boy GONE and he also knew I’d never believe it was an accident and so, he ran out the door after him…..barefoot.

In the end, he chased him for almost a mile.  

He told how Lincoln knew he was behind him and he’d stop long enough for Lobo to get an arms length away from him and then teasingly…..he’d run.

Once again he was caught because he smelled food coming from a house and went up to the front door and tried to get the screen door open.

My poor, sweet, tired, barefoot husband grabbed him but then didn’t know what to do.  

He had no way to get him home safely without the chance of him running and so, he tucked him under his arm and lugged that 30 pound beast home.

Imagine carrying a 20 pound AND a 10 pound bag of potatoes under your arm for almost a mile!

Within days he was at his doctors office getting steroid injections for Bursitis in his 30 pound, dog carrying, wounded shoulder.

Over the years he got many steroid shots in that arm when the pain would flair.

The funniest escape was one day while we were living in San Diego.  

It was a perfect weather day, San Diego has many of those, and Linkie loved being outside in the backyard.

We went into the city for the day and left him home.

The gardeners came and must have left the gate open.

Linkie escaped.

We had left our cell phones home…..on purpose. 

A day FREE of calls!!

When we returned home, we couldn’t find Lincoln.

We noticed our home phone was blinking with messages, LOTS of them and they were all about Lincoln.

Most were from a neighbor just 2 houses away.  

Somehow Lincoln had gotten into their house and made himself comfortable.

They gave him water and food and called us with no answer.

They called and left messages every couple hours all day.

Their last message was that they could no longer keep him as they were leaving town and they didn’t know  what to do so they had to call Animal Control and that’s where we’d find him.

The next couple of blinking messages were from Animal Control. 

They had Lincoln!

They were closing in an hour, it was Saturday…..they wouldn’t be open again til MONDAY!!

We hurried over and there he was…..up against a back wall, BEHIND BARS!!!

The moment he saw us, the stare into Lobo’s eyes was….GET ME OUTTA HERE.

We paid the bail…$52 for an expired license and he was sprung from his cell.

A few days later we received a receipt in the mail for the $52 AND there was a “mug shot” of Lincoln at the top.

Among many other things, Lincoln was now a jailbird with a mug shot!

(I’ll post photos soon.)

The day we took him in the shopping cart into Petsmart and he jumped out of the basket and ran throughout the store, got on the bottom shelf of all the big bags of dog food and tried to tear open a few before we could reach him was the day we finally decided…..we had to do SOMETHING!!

But what?

Well, I knew what Lobo would vote for and THAT was not gonna happen!

A few friends suggested that he needed a companion.

Another dog?

We thought about that one for a while.

Maybe it was a good idea.

He was home alone 8 hours a day a few days a week.

Maybe he was bored? Lonely?

He was still a puppy.  

Not yet 3 years old, the magic age we were waiting for.

Lincoln was an out of control dog!

He would need a sibling bigger than him, stronger than him, with a great temperament to put up with him, but only allowing him to push so far!

And for me…..no shedding.

Who would that be?

Enter LooLoo.