Some people cannot stand being left alone -take the case of Nora who has become a renowned escape artist . Left home by her family , Nora goes into action soon after they drive off . Despite all kinds of measures to try and stop her running out into the street and fraternising with the community , Nora will not desist emulating the wartime Colditz Castle great escape.
Nora is a sociable Jack Russell who resides nextdoor and when she makes yet another attempt to escape we have a friendly working arrangement with her owners to intervene . This intervention includes taking shots at her with a gun imported from Darwin .
You know another attempt at freedom is underway when she starts howling and scratching at a large wooden gate which has been reinforced at the bottom , boulders and bricks placed on the outside of the structure, to make escape mission impossible .
For a time , a few squirts from a Darwin water pistol imported to frighten away aggressive Currawongs from our resident Curlews , were enough to make Nora obey shouted commands to get round the back and be a good dog , or else she would be shipped off to New Zealand and included in a Maori hangi .
Of late, after a lull , Nora resumed escape attempts , without regard for the pistol packing neighbour . Her legs and snout were pushed under the gate with great gusto and you would swear that she would do herself a terrible mischief. In fact, after one episode , while she did eventually desist and retreat, she was found to be sitting in a pool of blood .
A few days ago , she was at it again. The water pistol had been mislaid , so I could not plug her as I leaned over the fence , telling her firmly to stop, go round the back , or else she would be put aboard a Pacific cruise ship .The frantic scratching and yelping went on .
Grabbing a .45 calibre billycan , I doused Nora with water from a garbage bin used to catch rainwater . This caused her to withdraw her paws and snout from under the gate, sit up , looking dazed. Threatening her with more Chinese water torture if she continued, she ran to bags , above, of cans and bottles for recycling . Finally , she trotted away out of sight .
Soon after , family members arrived home by car . Nora , smiling from ear to ear , joined them . This blogger told Nora we would probably shower together sometime in the future , then went inside and applied Betadine to the bleeding scratches on a leg caused by brushing up against prickly bougainvillea while bucketing the escapist .
Turning on television , who should jump out at me but Nora and a liberated friend , on the ABC's Hard Quiz , presented by attack dog Tom Gleeson.
