Houdini No More?

We completed construction of and moved into our home 10 years ago this month. Just a few months after moving it we went to the Humane Society and adopted Sam. As we walked up and down the line of cages no dog really grabbed my attention, but our daughter M?lia pointed out this shaggy fellow. He seemed nice enough, and when I asked what his name is, the person helping us said “Sam”, and the deal was closed. “Sam” was the name of the only dog we ever owned when I was growing up on Maui.

For some time now we’ve had to keep Sam tied up as he found a way out of our property. While it is surrounded on one side by a rock wall with chain-link fence and on the other three with hog wire, we’d wake up most mornings and he’d be nowhere to be found. During his nocturnal excursions he’d head on down the road and kill a distant neighbor’s chickens. We started tying him up, but he figured out how to slip every collar and harness we’ve ever bought for him, hence the “Houdini” nickname.

I finally located a single broken wire in the hog wire which allowed him to squeeze his skinny butt through it into our neighbor’s yard, and from there was nothing between him and freedom. I also rigged up a bar which tightened up our front gates and makes it impossible for him to squeeze through them if someone (eh-hem) forgets to tie the chain tightly enough.

We didn’t tie him up last night and to our delight he was still in the yard this morning (though he could get out easily he never seemed to figure out how to get back in to the yard). Hopefully his nightly romps are history and he’ll be happier not being tied up.