Well, that was something I never expected to happen.

Like any other day, I let the dogs outside after I picked up the kids from school. Since I had taken my mom to a doctor appointment, and then lunch, I was gone for a while. They ran outside as they normally do. Cruise took off first, seeing if he can catch some unsuspecting squirrel, Quincy close on his heels.

Everything seemed perfectly normal as they were out there. At least at first. Since it was a nice day, and they had been cooped up for a while, I knew they'd want to play outside for a while. But, after a while helping my daughter with her homework (snowman design is serious business in kindergarten), I noticed it was very quiet outside. As they say in all the good movies, a little too quiet.

On a normal day, when the temperature is decent, the dogs are running around, wrestling, playing keep away, and barking. Especially Cruise. He likes to bark at things. They don't have to be living objects, just in his line of sight.

Since it was so quiet, I looked out the window to see if I could see them outside. Just to check up on them. I looked in their usual spots, but I couldn't see either of them. Sometimes when they are quiet Quincy is laying on the patio by the door catching his breath while Cruise is exploring. And barking. (The neighbors must hate us by now). But I didn't see either of them. The yard is not big by any means, but there are a few spots you can't see from the windows. Namely, the gate that leads out of the yard. I thought there might be a chance that someone, maybe a meter reader, came in the yard and didn't close it behind himself. So I went out the back door to make sure it was shut, as well as take a peek to see if I could see the dogs.

I opened the door and looked to the right and saw the gate was shut. I called for the dogs since they like to play behind the shed. No answer. I got a little worried, but, since the gate was closed, I didn't see how they could have gotten out of the yard. I turned to the left and called again, then I saw them. They were under the kids swing set, standing basically right on top of each other and just looking at me. I get this look a lot, usually it means, "What? We aren't doing anything wrong at all. I swear!"

I actually said out loud, "What are you weirdos doing?" Then shut the door and went inside, satisfied they were in the yard. But, as I walked back to the kitchen I thought about the look I was getting from Cruise. There seemed to be a sense of urgency too it. Yes, I know, he's a dog, but they do have expressions. Trust me.

I took a look out of the kitchen window and could see them still standing in the same spot. Exactly the same spot. I could actually see Cruise's leg trembling a little bit. Something was wrong. I thought maybe one of them hurt his leg running around and the other was trying to help. When I shut the door they were probably thinking, "Dude, man down over here. Can you lend a dog a hand?"

I decided i better go out there. I grabbed my boots (stupid snow) and walked out the back door. From the patio I still couldn't see the problem. But, since they didn't move when I started walking toward them, I know something was wrong. As I approached, I concentrated on Cruise, he seemed to be the one hurt. He had that look in his eyes. Also, Quincy's tail was straight down and unmoving. Another bad sign. I still couldn't tell what was wrong, though. When I got up right to them, Cruise tried to move toward me, but Quincy seemed to bury his head in the scruff of Cruise's neck. Odd.

Then I saw a ton of slobber from Quincy's mouth all over Cruise's neck. At first I thought they had somehow gotten frozen together by slobber. That would be a first. For me at least, it probably happens all the time in Alaska. But that wasn't it either, it was too warm.

Finally, Cruise tried to come to me, and I saw the problem. They were attached together. From what I can gather, they were wrestling, Quincy got Cruise's collar caught on his bottom jaw and it twisted around. Now his jaw was stuck and he couldn't get it out. So whenever Cruise tried to move it dragged Quincy by the mouth and Cruise got choked. Luckily the collar release was pushed to the side so I was able to easily release the two dogs. They were quite happy.

You should have seen the amount of drool on Cruises neck. I have no idea how long they were stuck together, but if it was colder they may have frozen together like originally thought. Now that would have been a story!

I wonder if they will stop wrestling for a while now?