J
Tali is so smart, and so stupid. I can't afford 5k worth of fencing to contain a dog, but we put in invisible dog fencing years ago. Every 2 years or so though, I need to replace the line. No biggie. Over winter however, it died. A break somewhere and I couldn't go and re-lay it. We made do with sunken dog leads but occasionally she'd get out of the house and toodle around on the sidewalk in front of the house. Neighbour to the right would bitch for the sake of bitching. Finally I can pull up line, re-lay it so she can see the line, get the flags up so everyone can see the line is back. But we reduced where she can go. No more front yard. So we put flags around the area she can go but I didn't think I needed to put flags right up to the house. She's a smart enough dog to not need flags going through the raspberry bushes.
Remember this.
With the kids in the front, she's in the back throwing a hissy fit because she can't come be with the kids. I'm watering the grass seed for the patches and playing with the kids and I hear 'rustle rustle rustle' as 80lbs of rott/lab comes skimming the house right through the raspberry bushes like she's so smart. Big grin on her face. But I hear the collar. I hear it beeping.
See the lines have to go AROUND the house and meet back up with the unit in the garage to keep the line intact. If you want to cancel out a spot, you double back the line, twist it and it won't activate. Because the line sits too close to the interior of the house, from raspberry bushes to the mudroom, the line is braided. But it's not perfect.
Stupid smart dog saw there were no flags in the raspberry bushes between the garden beds and the house. So she went bumrushing through the raspberry bushes with the imperfect assumption that if she gets past it, she'll be fine and can join us on the front lawn.
Wrong. Doggy grin on her face turned to horror as the beeping on her collar stopped and she got nailed. And she about faced without even stopping and ran right back where she came from. We have it set to give her more than enough beep warnings before it nails her. Maybe once a year she forgets herself and ignores a beep or she thinks that squirrel was just worth it and bumrushes the line.
So now she's been pouting for two days now, upset that we dared to fix the line, dared to take away a quarter of the yard, and limit her freedom to 75% of the quarter acre that we own. Nose nudges to take it off. Sits on the patio and glares. It'll be a week before she sucks it up and goes on the grass and she'll give the flags wide berth. I put flags in my raspberry bushes to remind her.
so smart, and yet so stupid.
