When we moved to Opelika, we were so excited to find this house. One of the main reasons was because of the gorgeous, fenced-in backyard. We just KNEW Mav would love it. However, since we put him back there, he's been looking for ways to escape! Sure, he loves it when we're back there, throwing the ball, or feeding him, but he DOES NOT like being alone back there. He began by squeezing through the tiny spaces between the slats of our fence. How he managed to get his huge body through, I'll never know, but he did. Then he realized he could use the cross beams to climb OVER the fence. So, my sweet husband, and our Daddy Mer, fixed the fence. They used longer boards to make it taller, placed them closer together so Mav couldn't squeeze through, and put them on the back side of the current fence so he couldn't use the cross beams. Yay! Problem fixed! I could now leave Mav out back all day and have a normal day inside with our new daughter...right? Nope! Mav found some way to climb over the brick columns that are between the wooden portions of fence. So I put heavy planters on top of them. No more climbing the bricks.
After that, things were pretty quiet with Mav for a while. Then, for Easter, B got a swing. We hung it in a great tree, right outside the fence where Mav "used to" escape. He enjoyed watching us while we pushed the swing, but the slats were so close together he couldn't see. So he started jumping. If you've seen Mav jump you know that although he's a purebred lab, a Jack Russell must have slipped in somewhere on his family tree because he can jump higher than any other dog I've ever seen! So, he started jumping whenever we were at the swing. As he jumped, he pushed against the gate with his paws.
Casey came to visit last weekend, and Friday night we decided to go for a walk with B. Jim was pushing B in the stroller, Casey had her dog, Scout on a leash, and I was walking beside them. All of a sudden we heard something thundering up behind us. We turned, and I was almost knocked over by a brown blur. Maverick had decided he didn't want to be left out while everyone else went walking. When we returned, I saw that he had been pushing so hard against the gate that he had pulled out the screws that hold the latch on. So we pushed his humongous dog house (that he never uses) in front of the gate to keep it closed.
But, Maverick struck again. As usual, on a busy day when I didn't have time to deal with him. Blakely and I were going to go on a quick walk Tuesday before coming home and packing to go out of town. Again Mav joined us from out of nowhere, but this time when I took him back, the gate wasn't open, and the doghouse hadn't moved. I have no idea how he got out. So I put him back in and watched for a few minutes. He didn't go anywhere, and I had things to do, so I left him. 20 minutes later I heard a noise in our carport, I looked out, and there was Mav, soaking wet! Again, the gate was closed, and the doghouse hadn't moved, so I shoved (literally) him in the backyard again and went back to packing. Not even 10 minutes later I looked out the kitchen door and saw our neighbor dragging Mav across the street. Praise the Lord we have neighbors who don't mind the antics of our crazy dog! The gate was opened and the doghouse had been moved over several feet, so I decided to keep him inside for the rest of the day. When we returned from out of town last night, I nailed the gate closed. We might not be able to use it anymore, but neither could Mav.
Sorry for the long post about the dog (when I'm sure most of you were looking for pics of Blakely), but I had to get it all out because this is Mav today...
Inside, once again, because as B and I had breakfast this morning, I looked outside and saw him...in our neighbor's yard...peeing on the flowers. Please notice that he is contained in the kitchen with only a plastic baby gate. It's not even attached to anything! It just leans up against the wall! What in the world?!?! At least he looks ashamed of himself.
2 comments:
I think Maverick and Ellie need to get together!! Ellie actually has not gotten out in awhile...hopefully it stays that way! Stay in the yard Mav!!
I cracked up when I scrolled down to the picture of Maverick. That was the perfect place for that picture. And he does look very ashamed. :)
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