Jail Bird

The great escape....this is where it all happened my friends. It all started Thanksgiving. Maddie and Hudson spent a majority of the week outside. With all of the company here, it was just too crowded to have them under foot. The night before Thanksgiving, Lisa and I drove up from one of our trips to the store to find Maddie roaming the alley. I just assumed one of the kids left the door open or maybe even Bruce threw her out in hopes that she would run away. I put her back in the yard and didn't think another thing about it. Until, she was out again the next day. I then looked around and found that she could have slithered out under the fence in one spot, although it looked pretty small. I left the dogs outside the Monday after Thanksgiving and came home from work to find Maddie in the driveway. At this point, I drug a really heavy flower pot over in front of the hole, filled the hole with bricks, and thought....ok...she'll never get out now. I came home the next day to find the flower pot moved. This is over 75 pounds....easy....how did she do that? And all of the bricks had been dug out of the hole. And Maddie was out again. Come on.....are you kidding me? So, Christmas came around. I was not going to stay home - drove up Christmas morning and back that same night. No need to take the dogs for 12 hours in the car plus the time I would be with family. So, I put 2 card tables in front of the hole and thought surely that would hold her. I arrived home to find Maddie and Hudson in the yard. The card tables were lying on the ground and there was dirt dug out everywhere from the hole. An obvious attempt at an escape, but, I figured she gave it her best and gave up. Ha, I had done it....I had fixed the problem. But, Wait.....not so fast. I went to the front door to check on things before going to bed and a note was on the door.....from the Health Department, Animal Services Division. According to the report, violations were found at my address including no city registration, animal running at large and fence not maintained. Not real sure how they knew Maddie belonged in my yard. But, she had been put back, the fence gate had been secured with a rope and the dumpster had been put in front of the hole outside of the fence. I have been given until January 2nd to correct the violations. I will be going to get the dogs registered this week....and the fence....not sure. Tonight, I let the dogs out to eat. After about 20 minutes I went to let them in. Hudson came bounding in as always, but no Maddie. I called for her and less than a minute later, her nose appeared from under the wrong side of the fence. I told her to 'come' and she got her head through the hole, with a please don't kill me look on her face. I watched as she wiggled and squeezed her way back under the fence to get into the yard. As she lays here tonight, covered in dirt from having to squeeze under the fence, looking up at me so pitifully, I still am not mad at her. I just need the dog whisperer to make a trip to 1534 Lavendale Lane to help me with the escape artist. I thought my worries were over when I moved to a house with a high fence. Hudson could no longer jump over the fence, but now Maddie is squeezing under it. I may be using Christmas money to buy an electric fence. Will that keep her in the yard?