Last fall we adopted a 20lb. rescue dog. She was the only one in the entire kennel that was not jumping and barking and creating general mayhem. She was quiet.. we figured it was OK for our advancing age to get a small quiet, possibly meek dog to be our and our kids companion for duration. She was estimated to be about 2 years old.

Fast forward a few couple of weeks and we discover…. it was an artfully executed ploy to get adopted. She is completely.. INSANE. Adorable… (which I think is why she managed to survive this long); but who in their right might would let a cattle dog breed with a jack russel terrier? We quickly discovered that being left to her own devices means she pulls books off shelves and eats them (amount a 1000 other things). So.. she can’t be left alone in the house. She goes EVERYWHERE with us.. at least we try to take her (our youngest AJ played for 2 baseball teams this season, she got to watch a lot of baseball with us). At any rate.. can’t leave a dog in a car, and can’t take her into movies.. so.. we devised a plan to lock her out on the back deck (most of it is 20′ or more off the ground).

The first time, it worked like a charm! 12 hours out on the desk with food, toys and water. Came back and she was impatiently waiting to see us.

Fast forward a few more months to Graduation Season, and leaving the dog on the desk. Except last Thursday, when we did this, we returned to find the dog OUTSIDE containment. Not sure how she did it, we tested every opening (by trying to shove her through it) and were unable to determine point of escape.

Last night we had the last of the graduation parties about 1 hour away in Sillicon Valley (where most of my family still resides.. why.. I’ll never understand). This time we doubled up some extra gating on the iron gate from front to back of house:

We figured we had it covered. About 3 hours into the party my surveillance cams alerted me of unusual activity…

We tried to say our goodbyes quickly and get home before dark. We have a mountain lion den just below the property, and a fairly large coyote colony up the hill from us as well. The bobcats we see, not too worried about them. Sure enough, she was out front again. But this time I’d setup cameras… and this.. much to my disbelief pulled this of the motion detection cam facing the gate:

Where there is a will, and a determined dog… there is a way….