The Escape Artist

Being the mischievous little puppy she is, Eva has become quite the escape artist. Specifically, when we are gone and she is gated in her laundry room.

So you know that we put up a board and a chair, and she manages to nose them aside and scramble over. (See right)

Then she goes to work on her toys, and here is the result...












The solution is to make the gate taller, right? So I cut a piece of pegboard to size and zip-tied it to the gate. I was convinced this would be the solution, but Eva had other ideas.
While we were gone, in her boredom, she chewed or clawed the side of the board and squeezed through an impossibly small gap and wreaked havoc yet again. Yes, yes she did get through that little gap between the board and the door frame. 


So we borrowed a second puppy gate. This actually worked! For one day. The next day I found the barrier intact, but Eva on the wrong side. I actually needed to remember if I had put her inside. (I had.) The picture to the left is the exact set-up she must have  scrambled over. That is about 3 feet high. Eva is only about 20 pounds. You do the math.

The casualty this time? Her stuffed squirrel which is now hand-less, and one of my socks is now down for the count.

Eva's look says, "See Mom, this is what you get when you leave me... if you would just stay, I wouldn't have to do this!"

Today I put the second gate up higher. It is now about 4.5 feet tall, assuming she hasn't already knocked it down. If this doesn't work, I am all out of ideas short of putting the laundry room door back on. But I fear she will just destroy that too since it is a hollow-core door.

She is so smart, she gets bored quickly. We give her toys, water, chew sticks, peanut butter, and outside access through a doggie door to dig holes... but it never fails. A bored puppy is a naughty puppy.