Pitiful Pups

The long battle between Miller and Grady has come to this. Both dogs got neutered last week and are recovering nicely.

It began over a year ago when the neighbor's dog went into heat. Miller would somehow escape our nice big fenced-in yard and cause trouble in the neighborhood. We couldn't figure out how he was doing it, because if we were home, he wouldn't leave. It took me actually leaving the house and Grady staying home on a stake out for us to see how he was getting out. Our yard has a 6-ft wooden fence on all sides except for the back side, which is bordered by a 4-ft chain link fence. Miller was jumping the 4-ft fence and proceeding to pester the neighbors.

So, Grady put up a wire extension to make the back fence about 2 feet taller and we waited. Miller climbed it. He also climbed the 6-ft wooden fence.

So, Grady purchased an electric fence system. He dug a small trench around the perimeter of our yard and and buried the electric fence wire. Then we put the electric fence collar on Miller and waited. When he got 5 feet from the fence, it would give him a warning beep, then if he kept going, he would get a pop. This deterred his efforts and Grady took the fence extension down.

Then along came Buddy, whose registered name is "Grady's Dixon's Buddy for Miller." We were sure that with a new pal, Miller would be content to stay in the yard and play. Little did we know that Buddy was just a pawn in Miller's master plan. Soon Buddy began digging up the electric fence wire. When the circuit was broken, there was no longer any electric charge, allowing Miller to jump over the back fence, no problem.

So, Grady got an electric fence collar for Buddy as well ($35). That kept him from digging up the wires. But Miller had another plan up his doggie sleeve. Buddy began chewing Miller's electric fence collar. Eventually he chewed it entirely off, and Miller was free again. Poor Buddy would bark and bark saying "Wait! Where'd you go??"

So, Grady bought Miller a new electric fence collar ($35). Buddy chewed the battery out of it within minutes. We bought another collar ($35), and Grady put cayenne pepper on Miller's collar with Crisco. Buddy loved it. He licked it off, then cleaned up what happened to drop on the ground. Then chewed the batteries out again.

At this point we were out of ideas, and Miller was leaving a trail of the neighbors' cat food, pet food bowls, soccer balls, and shoes in his wake.

So, Grady loaded the dogs up and took them to the MSU Vet School, where they were happy to do the deed. Now we wait...