***

…And Their Consequences

*
We have a sweet black lab that we trained to a wireless fence.
*
The basic principle behind the thing is that there is an underground wire around your property that is linked to an electrode on a collar they wear. When the dog gets too close, the collar beeps a warning. If the dog tries to cross the wire, it zaps her.
*
Nira trained very quickly and the wireless fence was all we’d hoped it would be (except for an occasional broken wire). But then we moved.
*
In our current house in Massachusetts, we have a fenced backyard (as in wood, no wire). Nira, however, trained really well.
*
Shortly after we moved here, our cell phone service (Verizon) started sending us text messages in the middle of the night (3:30am). Our cell phones would then make a small electronic beep indicating a message awaited us. Poor Nira thought she was going to be zapped. At 3:46, precisely one minute after the first warning beep, she arrived at our bedroom door, quivering, tail between her legs. At 4:00am, the next beep occurred and Nira peed on the floor.
*
I went downstairs to figure out what the problem was and made them mistake of letting her outside to calm down. Its 4:15am, cold outside, and the dog won’t come back inside she’s so scared…. Much coffee was consumed the next morning.
*
The same events (thankfully without peeing on the rug) occurred over and over. As such, we have no text messaging service.
*
Unfortunately, Nira also thinks that the cell phone is out to get her when it signals its battery is low. We’ve told these stories to family members, none of whom believed us, until last night.
*
The kids were in bed and my husband and I were sitting in the living room chatting with my visiting in-laws. My cell phone beeps. Low battery. The dog appears from the other room where she was napping. I started to laugh. Watch this, I tell them. Minutes later, my phone sounds its ominous warning again. Nira leaps onto the sofa (she’s well trained and would otherwise not dare) and shoves her way behind me, burying her head and quivering.
*
Nira’s a big, black dog (intimidating to those who don’t know them) and it was quite a sight. It was when we were done laughing that my in-laws admitted they hadn’t realized how terrified she really was until they’d seen it for themselves.
*
It’s been two years since we left that wireless fence in Savannah, Georgia. Tomorrow, we’re putting a bid on another house in Connecticut. It has a wireless fence for dogs….