The danger of running a puppy bootcamp is that you need a totally secure and contained area in which to keep the puppies when one is on the parade ground going through their paces.
Our puppy pen has served us well over the last four months with only one breach of security when Fortnum realised that if he pushed hard enough at the bottom of the gate he’d be able to get out!
Now we tied the bottom of the gate together making the pen secure again. Or so we thought.
Today I was up at the top of the drive trying to persuade Mason to walk nicely by me. I was still in sight of the pen when all of a sudden Fortnum’s barking stopped. Always a suspicious sign. And lo and behold when I looked there was Fortnum bounding up the drive with his ears flapping and a smile to die for.
I knew as soon as I saw him that his breakout capabilities were again brute force but this time simply jumping, leaning and putting as much weight on the gate panel had led to it splitting to a low enough level for him to leap over the top to freedom.
Fortuantly we have some matching coloured rope – bright orange – and with some weaving I’ve managed to not just repair the rip but also strengthen the panel such that it will take quite a bit more jumping and leaning to break through the nylon rope.
Who knows how long it will be before he finds another way to breakout. Hopefully the fencer will turn up as promised tomorrow and we’ll get their pen in the barn sorted out so that they will be more secure with steel gates to keep them penned in.
With the breakout adventure and two lots of visitors today they had a ball. Even if they did scare the children and drag MT’s friend along when we took a stroll around the land. The only bonus was that they settled down early at my feet under my desk and had to be put to bed in a sleepy haze. If only they could be that cute all of the time!