Deb, our neighbour and good friend arrived at the door today with our Resident Guide Dog in tow. Thank goodness for Deb to save the day, once again!
We know Keeta is a runner. She loves a good run. But she's her own worst enemy. We used to go to the baseball diamond, which is enclosed by a fence, to let her run, but then she found a space about a half inch wide, squished through, and was well on her way to attend to some wildlife on the other side. So we don't go there anymore. She's also escaped numerous times from our yard too. And we thought we had that all fixed as well.
Now let me set the stage. Our yard is secure. At least, it would seem secure (apparently it's not). This is a 5 foot chain link gate. True, a good border collie lab cross could possibly get through, or over. But now this gate is reinforced akin to Fort Knox - with patio slabs, bent rebar driven into the ground, and wood planks (to prevent burrowing).
To add to the security, there is a tarp to make footing awkward. This tarp used to be strung up to form a kind of roof, but that had to come down because of all the snow. It is further blocked with some well-placed and substantial gardening tool crisscrossed across the space for added visual effect, to hopefully minimize scaling of said fence.
So Larry had to take her out to do her business for the rest of today, on leash. She refused to go. She was offended! Like I said, she's her own worst enemy. But you just can't have your Resident Guide Dog taking herself for an unescorted run.
Now our work is cut out for us this weekend. The question that faces us is, how to further reinforce this gate from said Resident Guide Dog.
We know Keeta is a runner. She loves a good run. But she's her own worst enemy. We used to go to the baseball diamond, which is enclosed by a fence, to let her run, but then she found a space about a half inch wide, squished through, and was well on her way to attend to some wildlife on the other side. So we don't go there anymore. She's also escaped numerous times from our yard too. And we thought we had that all fixed as well.
Now let me set the stage. Our yard is secure. At least, it would seem secure (apparently it's not). This is a 5 foot chain link gate. True, a good border collie lab cross could possibly get through, or over. But now this gate is reinforced akin to Fort Knox - with patio slabs, bent rebar driven into the ground, and wood planks (to prevent burrowing).
To add to the security, there is a tarp to make footing awkward. This tarp used to be strung up to form a kind of roof, but that had to come down because of all the snow. It is further blocked with some well-placed and substantial gardening tool crisscrossed across the space for added visual effect, to hopefully minimize scaling of said fence.
So Larry had to take her out to do her business for the rest of today, on leash. She refused to go. She was offended! Like I said, she's her own worst enemy. But you just can't have your Resident Guide Dog taking herself for an unescorted run.
Now our work is cut out for us this weekend. The question that faces us is, how to further reinforce this gate from said Resident Guide Dog.
Contributed by Jamie Naessens
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