Hotel Belle

Our Great Pyrenees, Belle, likes to roam.  It's in her nature.  It's who she is.  She is a livestock guardian dog and thus, she has a territory to protect.  Our dilemma is that we live close to the busy road where the speed limit is 55, but that's just a suggestion.  Belle has been known to get out on the road and we don't want to lose her.  I fairly routinely see white fur from Great Pyrenees dogs wedged in the torn front bumper covers of vehicles I inspect and write repair estimates on in my job.  The last thing I want to happen is for Belle to end up like that.  That would be a tragedy for our girl.

During the day we let her roam and she stays within sight.  She likes to crawl under the cattle trailer and nap in the cool dirt.  But at night, we put her on a tie out cable as that's when she likes to go on maneuvers.  She has become real adept at pulling off her collar and escaping.  To our dismay, in the morning we find the cable attached to a red collar, but there's no dog in the collar.  Tricia purchased a fancy harness that goes over her whole torso.  That will do the trick!  Nope.  She got out the first night.  We tightened it down to the tightest adjustment there was.  Here's what we found in the morning:

We don't want to lose her and there's no way we can think of to keep her in and safe from the road at night.  She jumps over the pasture fence like she's an Olympic hurdler.  So we sat down and did some research and ordered a kennel for her.  It's 8 foot long, 4 foot wide and 6 foot tall.  It came in the mail.  I'm a little disappointed in it.  Its fabrication is a Made in China deal and it's just more lightweight than I was counting on, but you get what you pay for, I reckon.  It took a little time to put it together, but we got it done.  We rested it on the slab that we had laid years ago for a dog pen.

Evening came and we coaxed Belle into her hotel.  I don't think she's fond of the lodging.  She'd rather have her freedom at night, but her roaming and barking is aggravating the neighbors, no doubt.

We let her get acclimated to her new lodging and then moved in her water dish.  We were concerned due to her "Houdini-like" ability to escape all forms of restraint, but the kennel is too heavy for her to lift.  She can't dig under it.  The tarp is fastened tightly to the top so we don't think she can go over it.  Let's see what happens.

The next morning she was still in the kennel!  I worked on putting the old doghouse together and put new shingles on the roof.  Then we put the doghouse in the kennel in the event it would rain overnight, well, she'd be high and dry.  Tonight I walked outside and heard a loud noise.  I walked over to the kennel and Belle was on TOP of the doghouse.  Just like Ol' Snoopy.  I think she was surveying the surroundings and plotting a way of escape like "The Shawshank Redemption" or "Papillon." 

Hopefully, the Belle Hotel will work.  During the day she's as free as a bird, but at night, we'd sleep better if our 'bird' is in her cage.