Good dog, Bad steer, Good steer

I tend to try to keep the dogs out as much as possible - during the summer, I want them acclimatized so that they can work during the summer, so out they go. Last night, everyone was still out for the evening, Pow out back, most everyone else out front.

Everyone starts alarm barking, especially Pow. Then it quiets down out front, but Pow persists. I finally get my ass off the couch and go out back with Whiskey. Pow is all hyped up, and runs to the gate down to the chute and arena, which I had closed off. I had put Albert in the arena earlier in the evening to get some exercise and putter. It was pretty quiet, except for deer moving in the woods, and sheep quietly questioning if I'd perhaps brought grain down with me. I went walking to find Albert in the dark - there was very little moonlight. Couldn't find him, so told Pow to find him, which he immediately did. Albert was on the wrong side of the fence, in the woods on the property line. How? I couldn't tell in the dark, since I didn't see any obvious break in the fence. Problem was, there's not a gate yet on that side of the property. He was happy to see me though, and came right up to me and let me pet him over the fence.

The fence isn't fully stretched there though, so I climbed over, then walked down the line a little. Albert was a little freaked, bolting then coming back to me and asking for reassurance, so I think being caught off property after nightfall was not his plan. I pulled the fence off a post, and was able to get it about 20" tall, tilted along the ground, and I crossed it. I called him, gave him the jump command, and he trusted me to come across and hop over the wire fence. So even though he was rather worried and this was a novel situation, trust won and a calm disposition won, and he was very manageable, even though he had no halter or lead on him.

Always train for emergencies. Not just daily life stuff. Train like you plan to have something wacky happen any day.

With Pow and Whiskey, we gathered everyone else up and brought them up to the front yard for the night, until Marq and I could go down and check the fence in the morning. Found this am that he'd gone UNDER the fence while eating, and probably hadn't really noticed he was crossing the boundary until it snapped over his rear and he was on the wrong side. It wouldn't occur to him to go under back, since he was following grass on the way out!