Well as anyone who was watching my Facebook posts this weekend will know, all went well with Maddie and the train. She wasn't the least bit fussed - trotted through the station and hopped on the train nice as pie! I though we were going to have a problem when the first thing she did was hop onto a seat while I put the bags up, but after getting her photo taken by the other girl at the table, she obediently sat down under the table and in fact spent most to the journey curled up asleep under the two seats opposite me.
Her good behaviour continued throughout the weekend, including being "no trouble at all" on Saturday night (when I left her at Mum & Dad's while I went out for a meal) - although that seemed to consist of mainly spending the evening lying by the front door with her nosed pressed against it.
The mask slipped on Sunday morning when I took her out to the woods behind the house and she managed to track down the local chicken coop. I saw her teetering on top of a back garden fence when I was too far away to get to her (never mind being in wellies that were 4 sizes too big!) Needless to say she jumped over, couldn't get back and in the end didn't want to - I found a gate in but she promptly elevated over the side fence into the neighbours, where she ran around on top of the garage and shed then jumped back again. It was at this point she worked out where the chicken coop was, the chicken realised she was onto it and started squawking wildly (but at least had the sense to stay in its cage) and I decided the time had come for decisive action. I don't like going into someone's garden but when your dog is trying to break down the chicken wire into the henhouse, the time for politeness is over! She was marched out by the scruff of the neck and taken home on a short lead.
Then back to her best behaviour again for the train ride home - which we only caught by the skin of our teeth, had to dive on at the nearest door and go through three and a half carriages til we found an approximation of our seat - at which point she went into cute mode again and curled up for the ride home. It is funny seeing people's faces when they realise (a) I'm not talking to myself after all, (b) there's a small dog trotting through the carriage, leading a pink-faced woman with too much luggage and (c) they'd better stop waving their sandwich quite so near the aisle (that last one only happened once).
The 3 year old whose table we joined was duly charmed at the doggie, and especially that the doggie was going to sleep all the way home under the chair (and she did, except for at Dundee when she emerged from her hidey-hole and curled up on the feet of the kid (well probably early twenties) who had taken the 3 year old's place).
Cue an emotional reunion with Murphy and Richard at the station - although I think Murphy was far more pleased to see me than he was Maddie!
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