1:46 a.m.
I woke up because I thought I heard gunshots. I heard another. Swimming up through sleep I thought the cops were no longer shooting deer and they used stun guns, not pistols. Another shot - it sounded about two, maybe three blocks away. I remembered that Nica was in the yard and wondered why I hadn't heard her scratching at the back door to come in. She is terrified of fireworks, guns, lightning and Harleys.
Suddenly I heard Nica screaming.
I ran to the back door and shouted for her. Her cries intensified and I realized she was on the opposite side of the yard where the steps come down from the front yard. I ran down and saw her trying to jump up. She had tried to climb out of the yard at the lowest point on the fence but had fallen back. Both of her front paws had slid between the fence boards and then down. She was trapped in the fence but could still stand on her hind legs. She was trying to jump up and free her paws but they were too stuck.
I grabbed and lifted her up with my right hand while I used my left hand to push her paws up and free of the fence. I carried her away from the fence and set her down. She ran to into the house and to her bed, still screaming.
Her legs/paws seem OK. I don't think she was trapped for more than a minute and was more frightened than hurt. She still smells like fear. I lay on the couch and petted her until she fell asleep, it took almost an hour.
This afternoon I"m going to nail some slats over that part of the fence so that it can't happen again.
Then I'll wait to see if any of the neighbors saw me in the yard at 2 a.m., under the full moon, naked, holding a screaming dog on my shoulder.
