Puppy dogs and chickens, oh my!

One Sunday morning, we were getting ready to leave the house for church. Kent was about 18 months old and enjoying a piggy back ride on daddy's shoulders. Pete and Kent went outside to put some bags in the cars, when low and behold, a chicken came clucking through our yard! We do not live anywhere near a farm, so this was a very unusual sight! While Pete and Kent were looking at the chicken, a dog came running into the yard and started jumping all over Pete with his muddy paws. From the house I see Pete yelling and trying to kick the frantic dog and a totally FREAKED out Kent screaming at the top of his lungs and grabbing onto Pete's face for dear life! It was a sight!

But we had seen this same dog a few weeks before...

I was loading the car when the dog came up behind me and jumped into the open car door. I got the dog out of the car and it chased me around the front yard. Kent, watching this whole scene from the front door, is screaming at the dog. I run up the stairs to get inside the house, but the dog pushes right past me and scrambles into the house. Kent goes completely stiff and his face turns bright red as he begins screaming at the top of his lungs. The dog has now run down the hallway to wherever Pete was. Pete chases the dog around the house for a few minutes while I hold the front door open. I'm standing next to Kent who is still screaming with his eyes shut and drool running down his chin.

To say these event were traumatizing would be an understatement.

We didn't hear anything about the chicken or dog from Kent for at least a year and a half. I guess he was focusing on learning how to talk and potty training. For the past six months, on almost a daily occurance, we hear about chickens being in Kent's closet, hiding in the hallway or just trying to bite him. You can ask Kent about what happened at school and he might tell you or he might say there was a chicken there chasing him. At night, Kent will hardly go anywhere in the house by himself for fear of the black chicken!

Two days ago Kent didn't want to get into his carseat because- as he told me, "the dog pooped all in my bed and in my carseat and I said, that is not a nice puppy dog- don't do that!" Now, we have never had a pet dog, nor will we because of my allergies, but Kent was convinced this had actually happened. He is not scared of dogs anymore, in fact he believes we have one. If you ask him where the dog is right now, he will tell you that it's in our backyard running around. Kent will tell you all kinds of fantastic stories of his adventures with the dog, but if you ask his dogs name, "puppy dog" is the most creative name you will get. :)