The Escape Artist

Our morning and evening walks are the same route: around the block.  It's not fancy, and it only takes 20 minutes, but the dogs have set their routine and we follow it.  The past mornings, since I returned from my trip East, Sparkle has come bounding across an empty lot on the street behind me.  She is evidently getting out the back of her property as easily as she gets out the front.

The first time she met us, I didn't have a leash, so I unhooked Cinnamon and clipped the leash to Sparkle and finished the walk by depositing her back into her own yard.  Since then, I just carry a spare leash, hook her up, and finish the walk by putting her back into her  own yard.  This morning, however, I put her back into her yard and she literally climbed the trash cans against the fence and was back in my yard before I could get to the garage door!  She has a leg injury that somewhat limits her movement, but it doesn't slow her down getting out of her yard.

She's still here as the man I talked to next door doesn't speak English and just stands there, smiles at me, and says, "Si"  to whatever I try to communicate.

I'm going to be away today, and I don't want Sparkle in the house while I'm not here.  I pretty much have her potty trained by using the doggie door, and I've given her some serious chewy toys for those big canines to bite into, but I don't want to not be here when she decides to try chewing on my furniture or one of the many afghans I keep on the seating spaces.  However, if I lock her out of the house, I also have to lock my 2 dogs out as I have to block the doggie door to keep Sparkle in the yard.

If the next-door neighbors are going to keep her, they need to replace the 4-foot fence with at least a 5-foot fence, and then become more aware of the fact that they have a dog and it must be cared for.  Leaving a dog outside 24/7 is not a good way to keep an animal, so I don't blame Sparkle for wanting to come to my house, where there's always food/water and a person there to interact with.  She loves to come up onto the couch with me, and seems to favor putting her head into my lap where she'll get some head scratching and some baby talk.

But, as I said and continue to say, I already have 2 dogs and I don't want a 3rd.