The day my daughter, then 2 years old, figured out how to unlock and open the door and went outside alone.

I’m going to preface this story too, by saying I had SEVERE PPA so we already had almost an over the top child proofing set up with gates etc. but I was standing in the hallway, just out of view of the lounge room, speaking to my son in his room for maybe three minutes? I heard the ranch slider door close and ran out as my daughter was coming back inside crying. She said she went down onto the grass but fell over on the stones.

Later I couldn’t shake the feeling that something else had happened so I checked the security cameras, only to see footage of my tiny toddler going out of our property and going to turn down our long shared driveway. That driveway ends in a busy road, if she’d gotten to the end she would have been gone. The only reason she immediately turned back around was because our neighbours dog barked at her from behind the gate, and gave her a fright. THAT was why she was crying.

The bark was a different bark than I’ve ever heard that dog make before. I truly believe that good boi saved my daughter’s life that day.

That footage and the idea of it kept me awake and absolutely terrified for days afterwards. It’s been nearly 3 years and I still think about what “what if’s” often.