Neighborhood Gentle Giant

Our neighbors across the street have a St. Bernard named Rocket. To be honest, this dog used to freak me out! She barked a lot and, while she stayed in her yard, seemed very interested in Daisy. I never really understood how a three-foot picket fence kept this giant dog in. Every so often I would see Rocket walking with her owner and Daisy and Rocket did not seem to like each other very much. I figured Daisy knew this was that annoying dog who always barked at her when she was trying to poop. I wouldn't like her either! One day the kids told me Rocket had jumped the fence when some people were walking their dogs past her yard. After that I was really on guard when Daisy had to go out. Not too long ago, my fears were realized (okay, I almost had to change my pants) when I took Daisy out and all of a sudden I see Rocket running across the street straight at us. When Rocket got to us there was a little growling and a lot of butt sniffing but then they both calmed down. Now I had to figure out how to get this huge dog home. I figured my best bet was to just walk over to the neighbors and hope the dog would follow Daisy. This worked better than I had even hoped. Rocket followed me right up onto her porch and waited while I waited for someone to answer the door. Once she realized her owners wanted her to come in and stop playing she took off. They chased her all over and had a heck of a time catching her.
Yesterday, the kids and I were coming home and we see Rocket in the street. She was apparently trying to help two women walk their dogs. I knew Rocket's owners weren't home because I had just seen them at the eye doctor 10 minutes ago(what a coincidence!), but couldn't figure out why she was wandering around. They never leave her in the yard when they leave. When I let the kids in the house I grabbed our extra leash and went out to see what I could do. Rocket was so interested in the other dogs that she wasn't hard to catch at all. I ended up taking her home and tying her up in the backyard. And started watching for her owners to come home. I stayed with her for awhile and she is just a giant furry baby. What a nice dog. I think she was confused and a little scared. It felt like forever but after two hours Donovan saw the neighbors pull in their driveway. I ran out, grabbed Rocket and headed across the street. You should have seen the kids' faces when they saw me coming across the street with their dog! It turns out they had the appointment at the eye doctor and then the son started hockey and the Dad was trying to get everybody and everything out of the house and totally forgot to let the dog back in. I bet this wouldn't have happened if Mom had been there! There was a lot of traffic last night because there was a home basketball game and things could have really ended badly. I'm glad I helped their dog and I got to know a big lovable ball of fur a little bit better. But I still wish she would stay in her own yard!