Stuck! (and the Unexpected Not-Quite-Outing)

I swear, this dog will be the death of me.

As if he didn't scare me enough with his tumble the other week, he sure did yesterday.


Mum was gardening out the front, and as she does sometimes, had Billy closed in the yard with her.
He mightn't be the best trained, but he does understand boundaries. He never tried to sneak out the front door, and if he's allowed out the front, he's never tried to get out.
Well, yesterday, he did. Not that he got very far, though.
I was inside when I got a text from mum.   "Bill go himself stuck in front gate. Calling fire brigade." I glanced at my phone, saw 'Bill' and 'gate' and assumed he'd gotten out.
I've written before that places closer to home, things like going for a walk around the block, are some of the most challenging with my agoraphobia. I struggle to even get out the door, down the path, and into the car if it's not parked in the garage.
Bill is probably one of the few things compelling enough to make me jump up and bolt out the front door. If he'd ran, I would run until I found him.  Thankfully, I didn't have to go so far.
As I came down the path, I saw Bill standing sideways to me, caught in the iron gate.

It was stressful, but I had to be there for Bill. I sat next to the gate and put my legs right up against it for him to rest his front legs and head on. He leant his back against the brick post, and just looked so exhausted, the poor dear. But he was calm for most of it (he was stuck for an hour) and didn't try to struggle, and I just kept cuddling and holding him.

He was wedged between his shoulders and ribs. He'd tried to walk through, but couldn't quite fit. I can see how his shoulders would've fit going forward, but trying to wiggle back out, the bars caught on his shoulder blades.

The CFA (Country Fire Authority) said to call an animal rescue group, but I suggested the SES (State Emergency Service), as my brother used to volunteer and it seemed like the sort of thing they do, and I doubted an animal rescue group would have the tools to cut through the bars.

It was the right call. After some time, a guy turned up with a SES truck. He'd been driving when he got the call-out, and happened to have an angle grinder with him. We wrapped a vest around Bill's head to protect him from the noise and sparks, and the SES guy cut through the bar in no time.

He confirmed that, if we'd called animal rescue, they wouldn't have been able to get him out and would've called the SES anyway, and we would've still been waiting with Bill stuck.

The most stressful part was probably when a lady (a local?) walked past with her toddler, and she and mum struck up a conversation, as you do when you see a white fluffy dog stuck in a gate.

The whole time I was out there, I just kept my head down and focused on Bill. I hate thinking that people can see me. I can't even open the curtains for fear of being seen, so sitting there at the footpath for an hour was terrifying. But in my head, it was only me and Bill - not the street or the cars or the people or the world. Tunnel vision.

Once he was free and we went inside though, I just broke down. Overwhelmed and overloaded and just BOOM! I had my bedtime meds at 4pm, just after we got back inside, cooked myself an egg on toast, and had an early night. Crazily early nights are becoming more common.

xxBella