A Pixar movie in the making

In one of the frontyards in my neighborhood sit a Great Dane and a Miniature Dachsaund, no leashes, no tethers. The yard isn't on my regular commute, and the few times I have driven by, I've thought, "Those dogs shouldn't be free like that."

Then, the other day I made the mistake of walking Lady Bird on the sidewalk right in front of this house. Now, poor Lady Bird had a really bad day months ago when she into some dog's backyard and we attacked. So, when I realized that I was walking her by this Great Dane, I panicked a little.

The Great Dane took no notice of us at all, but the Dachsaund ran straight toward Lady Bird, yapping the whole way. When it got about a foot from her a beeping noise started. On the dog's collar a red light started flashing. That dog turned around and ran the other way immediately.

These dogs are clearly living behind an "invisible fence" system, and I guess it is working for them. I'm sure that their owners are enjoying the protection that comes from having a Great Dane in your front yard. Maybe the dogs don't have a backyard to live in like most Houstonian dogs do. Maybe they just really love watching the cars go by.

Whatever reason motivated their owners to put up an electric shock system it seems that they overlooked a Houston phenomena: constant blackouts.

I can see it now. This really, really big dog who is a little shy and a little mellow and this small, angry, aggressive, elongated dog always knew it would happen one day and then the power goes out they are free at last. I can hear their little ethnic sounding voices now.

If it is a little power outage from a rainstorm then the story might be about avoiding being re-caught. But this is Houston, and we have hurricanes when the power is out for weeks and all sorts of things go crazy. Civilized, business friendly Houston starts to look like free wheeling New Orleans. I mean a pre-Katrina New Orleans, when everyone still had sense of humor enough to call a drink you put in a foot long plastic cup you wear on a lanyard around your neck a "hurricane."

Now, only in my dreams do I purport to be a screenwriter, but I think we may have something here. A big dog and a little dog go on an adventure in a hurricane. There's lots to find. They could help squirrels whose trees feel down and find cats who are running a criminal underworld.

After the wedding planning is over, I might just pursuit this.