They're back, again.

Two dogs, a little worse for the wear, came stumbling home yesterday afternoon. Nick drove on the yard and saw doggie tracks down the driveway, but only one set. WE're not sure how that worked. Sneaky dogs. He said that they came up to him pretty timid. They forgot to eat while they were gone again. I know that they're perfectly capable of hunting, they do it all of the time. Ruby's limping a little and is pretty skinny. Even more so than before.

I hope that they've got it out of their system. I will be buying yet another collar for Ruby and stapling them both to the shed in order to keep them home. Seriously, I'm not sure of the solutlion right now. I don't mind that they go off an play in the field, maybe even explore a little. I just hate when they're gone for multiple days. Clearly they know where home is, but a "mom" can't help but worry. I don't want them causing trouble for anyone else.

I know that there are a few options out there, I just don't know which sucks less for everyone. Fencing the whole yard is cost prohibitive. Even if we made a large kennel enough for them to play in, keeping them penned up defeats the whole 'guard dog' principle.

I think that the only answer is to try to get at least MAx super fat and lazy so that he doesn't really feel like running off for that much time. I desperately hope that by fall he'll have grown up a bit and will be less puppy running crazy and more of a 'I want to stay and protect my home' dog. Though maybe it was Ruby wanting to chase birds that was the problem. I don't know.