A rainy day mystery...

Okay, so I'm totally open for explanations! Here's the deal.

This morning, my husband BJ left for work a little before 7:00. I'm staying home sick (long story there, a blog for another day!) About that time I heard a loud crashing, banging type noise on our storage shed in the backyard, the one our 90 lb black lab Samson likes to demolish by throwing his weight against (it doesn't have any doors anymore! lol) So I thought "Sammys' messing up the shed again" and fell back asleep. A few minutes later, around 7:15, I woke up again and heard a bunch of rattling on a fence outside the bedroom window. I was like "oh geez, what is Samson doing now?" and then I heard rustling leaves, like footsteps (though that could have been Samson. Hard to tell when he weighs that much...) but they sounded human enough for me to get up and look outthe window.

Samson was in his pen.

We did not put him there.

Our backyard is fenced, but we have a pen in the corner by our bedroom window that is about four feet wide and 7 feet tall. We used it a few times last year when making backyard fence repairs and needing him to not get out - haven't used it since. BJ keeps a padlock and a corded-chain thing on there, but the door to the pen always stays open. This morning, however, the door was shut, tied, and Samson sat inside looking awfully confused.

I quickly called BJ, and asked if he put Samson in the pen before he left for work. BJ said NO and I immediately got freaked out. He stayed on the phone with me while I put on a jacket and shoes and hurried outside. No on was there, of course, and the backyard fencing was all fine - its not like Samson got out and then someone put him back in the pen for us. The backyard gate on the other side of the house was still locked up tight, perfectly normal.

I go to the pen and Samson seems fine, just looked as if he felt he like was in trouble or something. Poor guy. So I'm on my cell with BJ trying to undo the cord to let Samson out and I can't undo. BJ is soooo mad. We have NO idea who did this or why. Scary stuff!

Finally I was able to push all my weight against the pen door, toward the inside, and Samson could just barely slip out the crack it made. I brought him inside fora minute and he was fine - hyper, happy, his usual self, not hurt or even subdued. So I let him back out and just kept an eye on him through the blinds, which I'm still doing periodically. Its storming now, so he's sleeping in his doghouse like usual.

It is just weird. My first thought was maybe he had pressed against the gate like I did, and gotten inside the pen, then couldn't get back out. But my hubby reminded me that wasn't possible because the door to the pen always stays open, since we don't use it, and today it was secured shut. Its not a latch that can catch if shut - to secure it, you have to tie the cord around the handles and around the padlock, which is what happened. Samson is a smart dog and I call him "my genius" but he is obviously not capable of tying himself into a pen!!

So I'm a little wary right now, but so far, nothing else has happened and its been several hours. We just dont know if someone was doing us a favor, like maybe Samson got out and they put him back without wanting to wake us up, thinking he belonged in the pen? I would imagine if he had done something wrong, to somebody's pet or property, I would have thought they'd let us know regardless of what time it was....

We have no idea when that happened - the noises I heard before looking out the window this morning could have been just Samson and not a person. I just have no idea!

And of course this morning was the first morning in like a year that BJ didn't say goodbye to Samson before leaving for work, so we have no timeline ideas to go on.

I called my mom and she had no suggestions, other than maybe someone was trying to help us out somehow if he got out. But I don't see how Samson could have gotten out of the backyard if the gate was still shut up and the fencing is all fine. He doesn't ever jump.

WEIRD!!!