Houdini Has Done It Again

Yesterday I pull into my driveway and open the garage.  As I'm walking inside, carrying far too many grocery bags on one arm, I open the door and enter the house.  All of a sudden, I hear some pounding on the ground.  Just two seconds later, Yadi, my crazy Weimaraner is coming down the stairs, running towards me with sleepy eyes.

What.The.Hell.

You see, Yadi is your typical Weim and suffers from separation anxiety.  Her separation anxiety manifests itself through destruction.  She must be crated when we are not home.  Otherwise, I'm certain we'd come home to one of these scenarios:

Top Left   |  Top Right
Bottom Left   |   Top Right 

When Yadi was a pup, we came home to her lying in a pile of her own piss, in shock, after she escaped her crate, but not before she mangled her leg.  The whole ordeal cost us about $600.  We soon realized, after another situation where she greeted us at the door after returning home from a night out, that she learned how to unlatch her crate.  No big deal, we'll just lock them.  And thus began the days of Yadi having to be padlocked in.

This worked for some time until we came home and again, we were greeted by our grey horse at the door.  How could this be?  She's locked in!  That dingus learned that her crate is collapsable and thus she learned to break it down and escape.  No big deal, simple solution.  We'll just zip tie her crate together.

It's worked for over a year now.  For over a year, she's locked safely inside her crate.

So imagine my surprise yesterday when I realize she's out.

I follow the sleepy-eyed dog upstairs to let Vino out of her crate and investigate.  I was sure Nick was in a hurry and forgot to lock her in.  I enter the room and first see the guest bed.

(photo obviously taken after Vino was let out)

Busted!  Yadi is too large and clumsy to not cover her tracks.  It's pretty obvious she was napping on the guest bed while we were gone since the pillows are all distraught.  And these dogs KNOW they aren't allowed on furniture.  They never attempt to get on the beds when we're home.  But let's be real, I'm talking about Honey Badger here, so it should come as no shock that she didn't get on the bed during this.
At first I thought it was sweet of her to stay in the room with Vino.  But then I realized it must have been such torture for Vino to see her sister curled up, nice and cozy on a bed, while she was locked in her crate.

I then look to her crate and see this.

How?  It's zip tied together!!!  I then see her zip ties lying all over the floor.

Are you kidding me?  Seriously?  This beast has now found her way around the zip ties.  She's learned how to bust them!!!!  This dog is just too smart for her own good.
Of course she has no idea she did anything wrong and just looks at you with her stupidly happy face.  "Yep, this is my crate!  Like what I did?  Aren't I smart?"

The next plan of action is to buy more heavy duty zip ties.  If that doesn't work, I guess we'll look into the Petmate Vari Kennel 700 Giant series (Yadi is too tall for most crates.  She stands almost 32 inches at the withers so add in her neck and head and she's over 40 inches tall).  For now, we'll try the least expensive option of stronger zip ties.  Wish us luck!!!

Thankfully, nothing was damaged and she didn't get into anything.  The thing is, Yadi loves her crate.  She will nap it in and take toys in there to play with them.  She just hates being left behind, which thus causes her to freak out.  Of all the times she has escaped her crate, she has not ruined a thing or gone potty in the house.  Honestly, it's the act of us leaving that causes her separation anxiety to take control.  If there was way for us to leave the house without her knowing, she wouldn't need to be crated.  But even just us walking out the door to the car to grab something causes her to freak out, standing on hind legs, and scratching the door and/or windows while making her obnoxious Chewbacca whining/howling noises.  But if we work in the garage or the yard for hours and leave her inside alone, she's perfectly fine.  Ugh!!!  She's so complicated!!!


This dog.  I tell ya, not a single dull moment when you live with Honey Badger. She sure keeps us on our toes, that's for sure!!!