Mitzi...

Other nicknames include: The destroyer, Houdini, the terror, the spawn of Satan. etc (You get the point) 5 months ago when Calli was given Mitzi for her birthday she was this cute, curly haired little ball of fur. Now, she is bigger than Troy and terrorizes anything that gets in her way. (which is usually a fence)

After a couple months of having both dogs on the lawn and it beginning to looking horrible, plus her constant jumping on everyone (Gentry didn't even want to play in her own backyard anymore because Mitzi would attack her) we decided to contain them a little better. We bought a kennel and set it up in the backyard in the garden area.  The kennel is just for shelter they still have full access to the entire area.  Soon we found out that she could jump and clear the 5 foot fence that we had put up last year and have been growing honeysuckle on.  So Adam went and bought more fencing and added a foot to it.  After she couldn't get over the fence anymore she figured out how to get out of the gate. So Adam had to bungee cord it together. After a few days she had chewed off the cords and was out again. So, gate # 2 went up.  For a little while this seemed to be working so Adam decided to get started on the garden.

After planting a few plants it was obvious she was not going to leave them alone. Soooo, we went and bought more fencing and a gate to fence in the garden.  It looked so nice! That night she  "chewed" her way through the fencing and into the garden and chewed up Adam's plants. Adam loves his garden so he was not very happy.  After multiple attempts of fixing the fence each time and her still getting in, he just rigged it with a spare gate (gate #1) and called it good until we could figure something else out. For a while this worked, although it didn't look "sooo nice" anymore. 

 Pretty, soon he was clearing gate #2 and so in went gate #3. A big, higher chain link gate. There was no getting over this one for her.  Finally, we had one thing figured out. After realizing she was not going to get over the gate anymore, she started digging and jumping more.  She again figured out how to clear the 6 foot fence that seemed to be containing her before. When Adam came out the next morning and saw that she had de-barked a shade tree we planted 2 years before he was not happy...again. Threats were made, girls were begging and we were ready to throw our hands up.  We had already spent way more than we ever wanted too on this dog and nothing seemed to be working.  She had also made Troy super protective over his food and together they became barkers. Now, not only was she annoying us but now the neighbors as well. We bought a bark controller that is still in question as to whether it works. Her barking does seem to be less but nevertheless she is still barking. Every time we bring up getting rid of her to the girls they say they would run away if we did. At what point is enough, enough? We try to remember that she is still just a puppy (only 5 months old) and give her the benefit of the doubt but because she is so big when she does what a normal puppy would do it's twice as bad. 

After talking and talking with the girls and them promising that they will do better playing with her and keeping up on her, we decided to give it until schools out.  So, for now we have put off planting anymore in the garden, we are praying that our tree stays alive and are piling stuff in front of the fence so she can't run and jump over it anymore. It all seems to be working...so far. I have to admit that even though she's a terror she is really cute! Deep down we're hoping maybe she will turn out to be a "Lassie" and we'll look back and say remember when...We'll see...Stay Tuned!