Dogs

I just did something that's either foolish or stupid. Maybe both. I just left both of our dogs loose in the house. They will be supervised only by the cats for 3 hours until Kat gets home from school. I hope my house is still standing.

Ever since we had the big snow, the dogs have been a problem. Their kennel is outside, west of the goat pen. It' s buried. Not only can you not-get-there-from-here, but you can't shut the gate and the doghouses are buried under the snow. So, we put the dogs in the shop in their travel kennels, then I go home at noon, let them out, then re-kennel them. Only problem with this is that I tended to slip and fall on my butt frequently as I went to and from the shop.

This week, we moved the kennels to the house, and put them up downstairs. But Emily, the 120 lb. lab who stands 30 inches tall, broke her kennel. She broke her nail off too, and it bled all over my floor, but, more importantly she broke the kennel. She tore the door off and out. She broke the plastic. So, today, we relocated her to Midnight's kennel. It's smaller, but still in one piece. We put Midnight in Emily's kennel thinking that he wouldn't try as hard to get out and would therefore be safely contained--both dogs safely contained.

WRONG.

He got out. So, today at noon, I had two options: 1. Kennel Emily and leave Midnight out, or 2. Leave both dogs out.

I chose to try this and left both dogs out. What I hope will happen is that they will simply lay down on a bed or couch and nap the afternoon away. Maybe they will watch some TV (cause I left it on for them) and just relax. You know hang out in the warm house, kick back, enjoy the stress free environment.

What I'm afraid will happen is that Kat will call me telling me that both dogs are out and the front door was standing wide open with 20 outside cats inside the house. Then she'll tell me that the trash is scattered all over, that the meat I left in the sink to defrost for supper is outside, gone, that My bed is in tatters, etc. I can really see this happening. I know these dogs know how to open the doors--they've done it from the outside. Can they do it from the inside?

To make this even better, I can't find a new kennel big enough for Emily in town. Nope, I checked at both stores who carry pet supplies. No extra-large kennels. Anyone have any other ideas? Wonder if I can use sick leave for my dogs...maybe I can...sick because I'm sick of dealing with snow or sick because the dogs will make me sick if they tear up my house? Hummm...