Cosmo surprised me last night.

While I was letting the dogs out for their final nature call, rather than taking care of business as usual, Cosmo zoomed back to her favorite spot like a rocket toward outer space.  Since it was too dark to investigate, I made a mental note to check the area this morning.

Later, while in bed, I recalled an off-hand comment my husband made about the fence a couple of weeks ago.  I remembered him saying something about there being a gap in the fence somewhere behind his office.  At the time, he admitted to being puzzled as to why the dogs — and in particular, our naughty Scottie Cosmo — hadn’t taken advantage of the opening to explore the forbidden unknown on their own.  I’m pretty sure we shared a good chuckle over it  — and even pride at our superior intelligence — at the expense of the canine members of our household.

After seeing the size of the gap, I’ve no doubt Cosmo has been exploring far and wide, not once, but many, many times.  Was it only a couple of weeks ago now, that I wondered in a previous post, what was keeping Cosmo so occupied behind the garden shed?   All I can say it that I was stupid, stupid, stupid not to check this out before today.  And if it weren’t for last night’s brazen midnight dash — which offered up serious evidence that Cosmo was charting out new territories to terrorize —  Cosmo would still in the space exploration business.

I closed the hatch this morning, with stones leftover from our landscape project.  The opening was about ten feet long and six inches high in most places  — wide enough for Cosmo to have her pick of escape hatches and tall enough to offer an enterprising gigantic poodle (or two) their own peep-hole to watch Cosmo and the rest of the world go by.

The stones are too heavy for a Scottie muzzle to push around — or even a Scottie girl’s best canine friends — I know since my sad Scottie inspector has given then her seal of disapproval.  With defense once again secure, I’ve accomplished my mission.  And Cosmic Cosmo’s missions are over.

Not surprisingly, Cosmo has spent most of the day inside with me.  We’re getting reacquainted.