5 is the magic number for indoor doodle naughtiness in this house

[Adina P]

Rosco didn't learn to countersurf until he turned 5.

Boca didn't learn prison escape until she was 5.

Last summer we were gone during the fireworks and we returned to find that Boca had escaped her wire crate.  She did some serious bending of wires.  Pretty amazing and pretty scary. 

Clark managed to fix the crate and added zip tie reinforcement. 

All was fine until earlier this year when she randomly started attempting escapes again.  Last month I would come home after work on days Clark was away and find that she'd managed to push her crate floor out *and* pop zip ties. 

So I finally decided the crate was done.  Time to just Boca-proof the mudroom and leave here there with Rosco, uncrated.  The mudroom is only separated from the kitchen by a baby gate and counters.  I cleared the counters of things that would be intriguing and that was that. 

Until a week or two ago when I'd come home only to find her on the wrong side of the gate.  No damage really, just a few kid paper items destroyed.  So again I determined that I'd just work harder at keeping the main house clear of stuff (which I'm *horrible* at--I can't organize physical matter for the life of me).  Today I left a VERY uncluttered living room behind (all other doors closed). 

Clark came home and found the kitchen trash can emptied all over the kitchen and dining room floor.  So he put the crate back together and gave it extra, super duper, strong, manly reinforcements.  I came home and she was still in there. 

The prisoner was quite happy when I came home.


Crossing my fingers she doesn't get creative again. 

She turned 6 yesterday (per our made up birthday) and got a bath and grooming session and is so fluffy and clean...minus drinking from the toilet and rummaging through kitchen trash

.

[Adina P]

It's like a light bulb turned on and she realized she can do this so she's trying. Clark is hopeful about the reinforced crate. Before kids, it was relatively easy to keep the house dog proofe even as a crappy housekeeper. But now? It stays clean and tidy for 30 minutes. My youngest is 90% trained to keep his socks put away. But he still slips. And that's only because he feels bad when his socks get eaten. The rest, it's not on their radar. And I make them tidy up often. But it doesn't last.

[Adina P]

Nearly a month later and the super duper reinforced crate has held Boca in just fine. 

[Amy and Annabelle]

That's good news, hopefully that's the end of it. Annabelle can push the crate floor out and she is left standing on the wires. You would think she would learn it doesn't get her anywhere, probably just sore feet. So far she hasn't managed to escape. At only 15lbs she is probably too small for that. Unless she figures out to unlatch the door. I have a padlock at the ready if it ever looks like she is trying.  When I was looking at crates and reading the reviews, there were some people that said their dogs had figured out how to escape. Annabelle does seem to like her crate and will go in there on her own when she is tired and wants to take a nap.

That is pretty cute pic of her in her cell.