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At long last, the fence behind our house is complete! We now have a back yard. Probably no biggie to most people, but to Chip D. Dog, our nine-year-old English springer spaniel, this is a fantastic event.

When the project was finished, I took Chip out on the leash one last time, and we both walked around the perimeter of the fence to check it out. Then, once I was certain it was safe, I removed the leash and gave Chip the release command. He was puzzled at first, but when I walked away, he realized was free to go, so he sprinted toward the chain link and began to sniff every inch of it while I took a seat on the deck and watched him.

The next time I went to let him out, he waited for me to put the leash on him, and then when I told him it was ok to go without it, he still waited outside the sliding glass door. I had to go out on the deck before he realized I wasn't gonna get the leash. Then he saw a group of kids from the local day care on their daily walk on the nearby sidewalk, and he ran out to watch them and forgot about me altogether.

Third time I let him out, he ran straight for the grass and rolled around ecstatically without another thought. He finally understood that this was HIS yard and that he could roll and sniff all he liked. I think he wandered around for almost an hour.

Next venture out, I had a surprise for him. He'd been given edible bones for Christmas, but we hadn't given them to him because they were too messy to eat indoors. So he got his first one and ate it on the deck, watching to see if I was gonna open the door and take it away from him because he couldn't believe his good luck.

The following day, he remembered that in Denver, he ate his messy dental chews out on the grass, so he went out and lay under the tree in his new yard kingdom and waited for his reward. He stayed out so long that I had to call him in when he began barking at the neighbor's grand-daughter (kids up close make him nervous). On his next venture out, there were neighbors nearby, but he remembered not to bark at them.

It is SUCH a relief to not have to be dragged around the yard on a leash anymore! Chip has more energy, I think because he's spending more time outdoors. And I think he finds this yard more exciting than the one in Denver because of things like the ginormous rabbit that was back there today.

The only downside is that we have no dog door. We have decided against getting one because of how bitterly cold it gets here in the winter; there'd be no way we could keep it from being an energy drain. We are working on how to get Chip to let us know when he wants out.

It's the dog days of August, and Chip loves them.