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Charley's Revenge
Story of Bosse and Pelle by Daniela Beiswanger
Illustrations by Dagmar Herhoffer
Since we have our conservatory, all day long Bosse and Pelle can most accurately watch what is going on alongside “their” fence.
They do hear the "grass grow" even in half-sleep mode, when we humans do not even have an idea of who might be coming around the corner next, and who might be showing up on the street on our side of the fence.
Nothing can keep the boys then from quick start duet running in to the garden, where a wild fuss at the fence and a joyful game for all the "trespassing" dogs begins.
Those impertinent, mostly male dog trespasser run outside the fence on the sidewalk approx. 30 mtrs. up and down, as blind and excitedly as the boys in our garden, side to side on the narrow stripe between embankment and fence approx. 30 mtrs up and down. On each end of our property's corners, when the stereo chasing stops after approximately 30 mtrs, an intensely growling from the inside and barking from outside goes on, and the crazy hunt continues...
Charley is a big, short-haired sheepdog mix without a tail and hopelessly Basenji addicted. He simply cannot believe that - from time to time - the basenjis are not avaiable for him in the garden when HE walks by.
It had already happened that he bumped full speed against a big stone pile on the opposite side of the street running beside his owner on the bike, with his head pointing towards our property.
A few days after this he had quite a balance problem - but this didn't discourage Charley.
The other day those sleepy basenjis had not been in the garden at the right in time to play the great fence racing match, Charley sat down waiting with his back quite close to the fence. Anyhow, he obviously had not realized fast enough that the slobbering Bosse had approached all of a sudden, and chomped into his butt through the fence!
But - revenge is sweet and Charley got his chance! On a Sunday morning, the boys chilled a bit in the garden, when finally Charley as the first fence visitor of the day was in sight. Again the traditional chasing fun on 30 mtrs on both sides of the fence, but today however, Bosse slightly crossed the line.
Bosse squeezed his head through a narrow fence gap and got stuck! Charley of course did not miss HIS opportunity and bit Bosse couragiously in the cheek.
Somehow Bosse did manage to pull back his head, and we could check how much he had been hurt. I got my disinfective spray to give first-aide to the snivelling and sensitive "don't touch me Bosse". Basenji cousin "doctor" Pelle was at his side, and cleaned the wound over his eye. Licked and picked here and there, groomed Bosse's fur and the first-aide action was done.
For a while Bosse's noble "Anubis profile" did look more like Mr. Rocky Balboa after fight number 7 .
Editor's Note!
This story reminds me of a tale by Konrad Lorenz, in "Man Meets Dog". In The Fence he tells about riding every day to work on his bicycle, with his terrier mix riding along side. They would come to a fence, with another terrier on the other side, and every day the two dogs would run back and forth and back and forth, with much ado.
One day, the fence was being repaired, and there was a gap. Both dogs came to a halt, stopped barking, and ran back to where the fence was intact, and continued their daily routine. Here's a bit of a different version that the one I remember. My guess is that he told this story more than once.
