So,
Rufus broke through the fence again, and ran off. In fixing the fence, I was able to count how many breaches he has made in the last year. 8. Ocho. Octo > Rather impressive. The fence is a cedar post 6 foot privacy fence. Stock suburban backyard.
My neighbor caught him the other night (we didn’t even know he was out of the yard). Thank god! As she described the scene to me, I had an ‘A ha’ moment that I thought I would share. She mentioned she was a couple of blocks over and recognized Rufus cruising around at night. She called him, and he “came right over, quite happily.” The wife and I were home watching tv, and had let the dogs out to do their business.
She (the neighbor) was surprised by this, because usually loose dogs are skittish, even to those they know well. So, what can we take away from this? Why wasn’t he skittish? Because, in his mind… he isn’t ‘loose’ at all. He regards the whole neighborhood as his yard. Every time he escapes, he escapes to places we have taken him on walks to.
My biggest fear is; 100 yards away from our house is a very busy, major, and poorly lit street. Gladly, he has never gone anywhere near it. Luck? No, it is because we have never taken him near it. So, he doesn’t regard it as ‘his’.
In addition, 3 of those 8 breeches were simply into neighbors yards. Here is what is cool, though, he only breaks down the fences of neighbors we know, and house he has been to. See, he regards all this as ‘his’. This is good, as we are not friendly with the people behind us… and he has never touched that side of the fence.
Because my wonderful boy is so good at escaping, I keep a leash on the front porch. Oh, and the house he takes off to around the corner… the lady has hounds… and thinks Rufus is adorable. I have reports when he breaks out he just runs to her house and often runs right inside.
So, if any of your loved trackers are also compulsive runaways… this may be helpful info.
*as for the story below, I am reinforcing the outer fence this weekend. I will be crossboarding everything. It will look like hell, but it will be effective. I do not condone for a second any of his escapes. Make sure everyone knows that. No one likes a loose dog. It is a safety issue for all. I plan on walling his ass in there for good.
But, since I had all these adventures, I thought I would share what I have learned with the group.
I should clarify a point here. I do not, for a second, condone my dog running away. It is a serious threat that terrifies me. However, I am not blind ot reality, and this boy is a runner!
Rufus made his ninth breach last weekend, so I thought I would show you what I did to the fence. I made cross bars with fence posts, and so far (well, in 8 days) it has worked. All the new cedar you see is previous Rufus breaches. This fence had four, as he also went and dug under the fence and found his freedom.
See the rocks to the bottom left? Those are Rufus stoppers, I prey.
Anyhow, good luck with your hound. I am just going to move next door to Demelza. She won’t mind, right?
