You've seen the
pictures. And now, the rest of the story!!
Before I get started, there are two things you need to know:
- Our friends with the lovely springer spaniels are trying to sell their house.
- We were also taking care of their cat, who was being kept in an enclosed breezeway between the house and the garage, which also doubles as our friends craft room. This is also where the dog food is kept.
Our friends had taken off on a vacation, and we agreed to watch their animals. As I mentioned, we were going to take the dogs back to our place, since we have a large fenced backyard with a couple of large kennels. The cat has a self feeder and self waterer, so we would just check on him every couple of days or so to empty the litter box and refill food/water as needed. We would have access to the breezeway through a sliding glass door left unlocked.
We arrived to get the dogs and check on the cat on a Wednesday. And that is when the fun began.
It all started when one of my children (who shall remain anonymous to avoid embarrassment), in their haste to help, let the dogs out of their kennel at our friends house. Our child then saw that the sliding door was open slightly and proceeded to close it.
And inadvertently lock it.
We had no chance to get the dog food or check on the cat! We didn't have a key, and our friend's parents, who live just down the road, had gone out of town with them.
But...our friends were selling their house. We will just call their realtor and he can let us in!
Confident the cat would be okay for a couple of days, we took the dogs back home with us and went out and bought some of their food. We let them run around the back yard for a while with the malamutes and then put them in one of the kennels for the night.
It was when I went to feed them before work the next morning that I discovered that kennel breakout #1 occurred. There they were, innocently running around the yard...
After feeding them, I put them in kennel #2. They stayed in there most of the day - we let them out every couple of hours or so for a while. But by that evening, they had successfully escaped kennel #2. We tried to put some bricks in the holes they had dug, but they simply pushed them out of the way and got out again.
They spent the next night in the garage...
Meanwhile, I had called our friend's realtor. Turns out, he was out of town too! No problem, really. He gave me the number to the office and told me to ask for another realtor. The other realtor agreed to meet us at 6pm Friday to get into the house.
Meanwhile, keeping the springers in the garage turned out not to be the greatest idea. They discovered the garbage...
Friday night, we load up the kids and the springers and head to our friends house. The realtor shows up, and she goes to get the key out of the lock box. Getting into the house won't be a problem...
...except there is no key in the lock box.
We looked for another way into the house. There were some open windows, but they were too high to reach. Then we see the small window ac unit in their kitchen window. While the unit was secured to the window, we were able to push the window up enough to open a hole under the ac unit large enough for Olivia to squeeze through. She opened the front door, and we were in!
Cat okay, we went back home with the dogs, their food, and a small dog pen. We also brought the dog's personal pool, since they didn't seem to care for the one we provided. That night, the springers slept in the garage again, but this time in individual pens.
Over the weekend the springers alternated between digging their hole to Beijing and escaping into our neighbor's yard, where the grass really is greener. Our neighbor helped us round them up and then told us that his dog is part springer...and he had to use an electric fence to keep him penned in.
Took the springers back to check on the cat Sunday, who by then had eaten all his food and had destroyed part of the craft area. So...much time was spent picking up craft pens out of tiny crevices...
Our friends were due home Tuesday, so we kept the springers at our house for a couple of more days. We let them out only when they could be supervised but they still got to stretch their legs several hours a day. All went well, except for the time when they couldn't wait to eat and discovered the open dog food bag...
Tuesday evening, we took them back home for good. The cat had made another mess in the craft room, but otherwise the homecoming went well. We left the dogs in their kennel outside and went home, knowing that springer spaniels, as sweet as they are (and the truly are sweet dogs), were not in our future plans.
And now, you know, the rest of the story!!
EPILOGUE: Our friend invited us over for lunch and dinner on Saturday. And where were the dogs? Secured in their crates. Seems they had escaped several times from their kennel that day...
Before I get started, there are two things you need to know:
- Our friends with the lovely springer spaniels are trying to sell their house.
- We were also taking care of their cat, who was being kept in an enclosed breezeway between the house and the garage, which also doubles as our friends craft room. This is also where the dog food is kept.
Our friends had taken off on a vacation, and we agreed to watch their animals. As I mentioned, we were going to take the dogs back to our place, since we have a large fenced backyard with a couple of large kennels. The cat has a self feeder and self waterer, so we would just check on him every couple of days or so to empty the litter box and refill food/water as needed. We would have access to the breezeway through a sliding glass door left unlocked.
We arrived to get the dogs and check on the cat on a Wednesday. And that is when the fun began.
It all started when one of my children (who shall remain anonymous to avoid embarrassment), in their haste to help, let the dogs out of their kennel at our friends house. Our child then saw that the sliding door was open slightly and proceeded to close it.
And inadvertently lock it.
We had no chance to get the dog food or check on the cat! We didn't have a key, and our friend's parents, who live just down the road, had gone out of town with them.
But...our friends were selling their house. We will just call their realtor and he can let us in!
Confident the cat would be okay for a couple of days, we took the dogs back home with us and went out and bought some of their food. We let them run around the back yard for a while with the malamutes and then put them in one of the kennels for the night.
It was when I went to feed them before work the next morning that I discovered that kennel breakout #1 occurred. There they were, innocently running around the yard...
After feeding them, I put them in kennel #2. They stayed in there most of the day - we let them out every couple of hours or so for a while. But by that evening, they had successfully escaped kennel #2. We tried to put some bricks in the holes they had dug, but they simply pushed them out of the way and got out again.
They spent the next night in the garage...
Meanwhile, I had called our friend's realtor. Turns out, he was out of town too! No problem, really. He gave me the number to the office and told me to ask for another realtor. The other realtor agreed to meet us at 6pm Friday to get into the house.
Meanwhile, keeping the springers in the garage turned out not to be the greatest idea. They discovered the garbage...
Friday night, we load up the kids and the springers and head to our friends house. The realtor shows up, and she goes to get the key out of the lock box. Getting into the house won't be a problem...
...except there is no key in the lock box.
We looked for another way into the house. There were some open windows, but they were too high to reach. Then we see the small window ac unit in their kitchen window. While the unit was secured to the window, we were able to push the window up enough to open a hole under the ac unit large enough for Olivia to squeeze through. She opened the front door, and we were in!
Cat okay, we went back home with the dogs, their food, and a small dog pen. We also brought the dog's personal pool, since they didn't seem to care for the one we provided. That night, the springers slept in the garage again, but this time in individual pens.
Over the weekend the springers alternated between digging their hole to Beijing and escaping into our neighbor's yard, where the grass really is greener. Our neighbor helped us round them up and then told us that his dog is part springer...and he had to use an electric fence to keep him penned in.
Took the springers back to check on the cat Sunday, who by then had eaten all his food and had destroyed part of the craft area. So...much time was spent picking up craft pens out of tiny crevices...
Our friends were due home Tuesday, so we kept the springers at our house for a couple of more days. We let them out only when they could be supervised but they still got to stretch their legs several hours a day. All went well, except for the time when they couldn't wait to eat and discovered the open dog food bag...
Tuesday evening, we took them back home for good. The cat had made another mess in the craft room, but otherwise the homecoming went well. We left the dogs in their kennel outside and went home, knowing that springer spaniels, as sweet as they are (and the truly are sweet dogs), were not in our future plans.
And now, you know, the rest of the story!!
EPILOGUE: Our friend invited us over for lunch and dinner on Saturday. And where were the dogs? Secured in their crates. Seems they had escaped several times from their kennel that day...