Houdini. After the frightening event of the escape and disappearance, we needed to try something new. My wife's brother had a crate, one of the plastic ones, probably for a large dog, but it was available to borrow, and this we did. We decided to leave her inside the house, contained within the crate while we were gone for the day. Sydney had obviously never been housebroken. I suppose another confession is due though, regarding that. I said that Sydney was an outside dog. In reality, she was able to come into our home. I'm not sure how early this occurred, and it really wasn't my intention at the beginning, but she was able to come inside while we were at home. She went outside to eat, and still spent the days and nights outside, but she did spend time inside with us. So, she wasn't fully housebroken, but she had been inside enough to understand than she needed to go out to do what was necessary. Add to this the fact that she was probably six months old when we got her and even older at this point, so in reality, housebreaking wasn't much of an issue. There were a couple of early accidents, but she quickly learned, and it was really an easy process. Like the underground fence, the crating worked well at first. Off to work and school each day, arrive home, let the dog out of the crate, for the happy greeting and outside to do what was needed. All was well again, and the worry was gone. However, like everything with this unusual animal, who by the way, we later learned, has separation anxiety and as we always knew, a desperate fear of thunder, things didn't go well for too long. Little by little, there was evidence of chewing on the crate. Minor, for sure, but not a promising sign. No, she didn't eventually chew her way free, she managed to force her way through the door. So off I go to find a better crate. I purchased an all wire metal model, collapsible for storage and transport, which turned out, once again, not to be the smartest move on my part. The new crate worked well, no way to chew out of this one, and the door latched more securely, but it's amazing what a smart, determined dog can do. Somehow, Houdini managed to get leverage inside this crate and collapse it enough to create a space at the door to escape from.
Was it during the crating period? I'm not sure. Maybe it was after and we decided that she was fine inside the house during the day without the crate. Whenever it happened, one day I arrived home to quite a surprise. The door to our bedroom was shut, but a nice hole was chewed in the carpet on the outside, and into the floor below it. I was livid! But of course this wasn't the full extent. There was a closet door open, the closet which contained my one and only suit, and the floor of this closet was covered with the remains of clothing, including this only suit. I'm not proud. I was angry. I grabbed a rifle. Grabbed the evil dog, and carried her into the field behind our home. My saving grace, was my wife, driving up at that very moment. I don't know for sure how I would feel at this moment if that travesty had not been prevented, but I do now know that I would have missed so much love from my friend, whom I would protect at any cost today. As background, let me explain. I grew up the son of a beef farmer, with a brother-in-law who occasionally took me hunting. So, I have always been comfortable with guns, and killing animals used to not be an issue with me. In fact, when I was in my mid teens, we had a severe problem with feral dogs chasing the cows, some of these cows worth a thousand dollars or more, so my cousin and I were tasked with killing off as many of these dogs as possible, which we did, effectively in fact. Enough said. Now, I eat meat, purchased meat, but if I was hungry enough, I would go out and kill something to provide food for my family, but I don't hunt neither for sport nor food. I have developed this affinity for animals, and the thought of killing anything is not something I would relish. I don't meant to disparage hunters, those who make clean effective kills, but those who wound an animal who suffers in agony before eventually subcombing to death, do not garner a lot of respect.
My wife arrived home at the right time. I didn't do the wrong thing. And Houdini survived to torment, infuriate, inspire and build within me a love that may not have happened, had that moment not occurred.
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