Kai

Kai is a good dog, for the most part. She will chase a ball as long as you’ll throw it and she’ll be the first to greet you at the door. She is always willing to eat the leftovers that nobody wants and never complains if the hot dogs are a little burnt. Occasionally she does something less than desirable, such as taking Curious George into the backyard or reminding Gail of her presence when we go to Joplin by having an ‘accident’ on the carpet. This week she has added a new ‘trick’ to her list of less than desirable tricks.

The past few days Kai has taken to practicing her escaping techniques. I say practicing because she has a history of escaping from Greg and Gail’s deck – she was able to knock down the piece of lattice and then open not one but two doors to get back into the house.

Last week we received a phone call from our neighbors indicating that Kai was at their house, they had come home to find her in the front yard. The next day Jeff went out and tried to figure out just how Kai had gotten out, even tried to get her to do it again. He figured maybe she learned how to unlatch the latch – jump and hit it and maybe it would come undone. He used a bungie cord to close the gate, hoping this would keep her in her yard.

My parents are in town this week, and came over Thursday morning after visiting Pikes Peak – good think Clare and I didn’t go with them as children under 4 months aren’t allowed at the top. I told them that I would leave the door unlocked and to just come on in. They arrived and apparently Kai greeted them at the front door, she’d gotten out again! I did the whole ‘bad dog’ routine and told her that escaping was not OK.

A few hours later my Mom went out to the car, Kai decided to see if she needed help and escaped again! This time my Mom made her go back thru the gate and discovered some fur on the wire fence – how she was fitting thru the second level of the fence is beyond me.

Today, my Dad went to Home Depot to see about some wire fence or a piece of wood, something to fill the space where she was climbing thru. He added a piece of wood between the top and middle pieces of the fence, making the space far too small for her to climb thru. Jeff served her dinner on the back patio while we left for dinner with my family, thinking surely she’d be there waiting for us when we got home. Well, she was waiting for us alright; on the front porch! Another set of neighbors got her this time, and apparently were trying to lure her to them with dog bones which are now all over the drive way and porch.

So, we’re back to the drawing board. Who knows how she’s climbing, or jumping, over the fence – she won’t even jump into the back of the car for crying out loud! Fortunately she hasn’t hurt herself too bad, a few scrapes under her arms and legs but nothing too bad. I’m guessing tomorrow we’ll be checking into what else we can do to Kai-proof the fence. If you see her wondering the streets please let us know, Jeff's number is on her name tag, thank goodness!