I guess what I was looking for with this thread was suggestions as to how they could have escaped, for instance has anyone ever heard of a yorkie being able to climb a 4-6 foot vertical wooden fence with vertical slats? I am doubtful about this as I have never seen them climb and both dogs got 'over' (one is a teapot and the other is ~7.5 lbs).
I think the most likely cause was that a cat knocked the latch as it went over the 6 foot gate (husband didn't lock it). Curious puppies found open gate and went for a walk, gate blew shut before I got back after neighbour phoned.
Less likely, someone got into our back garden and left the above gate with the latch open when they left, without moving our bins to get out onto the driveway or being seen coming from behind our bins (or entering our property). Puppies were inside asleep when this happened but later found the gate open and went for a walk. Gate blew shut before I got back. Our property is overlooked by home-all day neighbours and the side street, and we use a burglar alarm so I think this is unlikely. We also live in a very low-crime area e.g. 2-3 a month.
They have cat flaps that we installed to help them with potty training. They can now hold their bladders all day, so I will start locking the flaps whilst we are at work, but given their early life of freedom I think they will be bored locked in the kitchen all day ... so I would feel bad about doing this. They are a bit young and playful to be left to roam the house unsupervised . The only threat in the garden would be a dog thief - which I would say is a slim risk as they are not visible from the road (they are too large for birds of prey). We have a camera in the kitchen so I had been checking on them several times a day up to now.
Out on the road the only threat would again have been opportunistic thieves and cars. |