Oscar has been so wild the last five or six days. He went through a stage where he was making us crazy and then he calmed down for about a month. It was so nice but last week, he went back to being the wild dog. He ran by the desk and the printer sits at the end of the desk. There were papers in the printer tray and he noticed those. The papers weren’t sticking out past the end of the tray but he jumped up to grab them and pulled the whole tray out of the printer. For the first time ever, he jumped up and totally knocked the stitching frame out of the Lowery stand. It’s been constant.
Thursday, I told Vince . . either we get a place for him to play outside or we hire someone to come in and do what needs to be done. Back in August, we had bought these things to put along the bottom of the entire fence.
When I originally posted these, I got several comments about the spikes. Oscar will never be out there unattended and these little panels are right up against the wood. I don’t see him really hang out at the fence since he obviously can’t get over it and can’t see through it but, one or both of us will always be out there with him. I could even take the harness off when he’s out there and if I ever see it looking like a safety issue, I’ll do that.
We decided to just fence off the space between the front fence on this side of the house and the front of that big pine tree. That was something Vince could do in a few days.
It looks like a small job but getting those spikes in this rocky ground was hard work and took forever. He kept having to dig out rocks in order to get the spikes in the ground. They had to be at the exact spot in order for the panels to connect together.
He had a few short wood fence panels he had found on sale at Walmart last year so when he got to the point along the side fence where he was ready to stop using the spikey things and start towards the house, he started using the wood panels. Then, he finished the rest with landscaping fabric. That will be fine for keeping Oscar inside the fence with us out there with him.
I could see him getting under this big tree and one of us having to crawl under there to get him out. He’ll usually come when I say “Come!” IF he thinks I have a treat, but not always . . depends on whether what he’s doing is worth not getting a treat. In other words, he doesn’t mind very well! So, him not having access to these trees is good. There could even be a snake or something under there and he would not make a wise decision about something like that.
Yesterday evening Vince got it all finished so I took Oscar out there and threw the ball for him and let him explore and run a bit. He was ready to come in after half an hour. He was so tired. When we got in, he got a big drink of water, climbed up in my lap and slept for three straight hours . . then he was a crazy dog again. I’ll remember to take him out about an hour before dark and let him play and that should give me a few hours of late night stitching without having to watch him every minute.
Addie and I went out and played with him this morning. He runs so hard and after 30 minutes or so, he’s huffing and puffing and ready to come inside and curl up and snooze for a bit. So glad to have that project done.
I wondered if today he wouldn’t be somewhat sore since he ran way more than he usually does. It’s good exercise for him and I love being out there playing with him – watching him have fun.
Northeast Ohio Helen says
I was wondering why, with your beautiful fenced backyard and all Oscar’s energy that you didn’t feel comfortable letting him have the run of part of it. This is going to be great for you folks and Oscar!!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
His little play area is part of the fenced yard. Two sides are the wood fence. We decided not to give him the whole area for several reasons.
1. Vince hasn’t had time to put the stakes around the entire yard and there are spots where he could ALMOST get under and with just a little digging, he could get out.
2. The greenhouse is on beams and he could get under it but wouldn’t have the space between the beams (if he went between the wrong ones) to turn around and I’m not sure how he would react to having to back out that far.
3. There are birds of prey all around and with Oscar being shiny white in the sun, if they came after him and we couldn’t get to him fast enough, that might be the end of Oscar.
4. On each side of the patio, there are 4 – 5′ concrete retaining walls. If he got to running and went over those and landed that far down on a concrete patio, that wouldn’t be good.
The area he has is plenty big enough. It’s probably about 40′ x 30′. There’s plenty of room for throwing balls and frisbees (just so we throw them away from those windows!). Addie is here today and she’s been out to play with him several times. Oscar is so exhausted. Mission accomplished!