Guess who met me at the back door tonight?
 

Long story but I need to set this up a bit.

I go to a weaving class 15 miles from my home every Wednesday night - and am out of the house about 3 hours. George usually goes along and dances at a nearby senior center. Tonight we left Tallulah in her playpen and went to class. We forgot that the dancing had been canceled tonight, so when we got there we decided to put in an appearance at class for a few minutes and come home. So we were gone about an hour.

When we were unlocking the door, I heard a little tinkle and my first thought was that it sounded just like my Bungee (R.I.P.) getting ready to come through the doggy door. Opened the door and there stood Tallulah - just as proud as could be that she was there to greet me.

This little scamp had climbed out of her playpen at the opposite end of the house, pooped in the hall on her way, and came all the way across the house to the back door. While she waited she used her piddle pad in the bathroom twice! No sign of any other indiscretion.

After I examined her for injuries and got over the horror of what might have happened to her, especially having the run of the house for possibly 3 hours, I have to say I feel a little proud of her spunk and especially that she used the piddle pad without someone encouraging her when she could have wet anywhere in the whole house.

Needless to say, the playpen has been put away until we can figure out a way to put a secure top on it, and we brought in the big crate. She is going to be royally ticked at bedtime tonight.

if it's a regular skin kid play pen like graco, evenflo, etc. we used one too. we quickly learned that soph can jump.....really high.....so we put the stuff we had in the play pen on the floor and turned the play pen upside down on top of it. worked fine.

Yes - it's a Grafco pen. What did you do to protect the floor? I have carpet in my bedroom and don't want to have the bedroom spelling like a kennel.

You can use an inexpensive plastic shower curtain under the pen. They're cheap enough at the dollar stores that you can throw a soiled one away and put down a clean one. Or they're easy to spray off with the water hose. Works great. :)

It's amazing how these little babies can do things that just make your jaw drop, isn't it? Cute story, although Tallulah has no idea what it's going to cost her...

She does now because she slept in the crate last night so she didn't have my arm to cuddle against. I was sleeping with my arm dangling in the playpen so she could have contact with me. But to her credit, after just a few minute of fussing she settled down and was quiet as usual all night.

She doesn't show any signs of injury this morning. Ate her breakfast and tore around the kitchen as usual. Phew!

oh my goodness isnt it amazing how high these little ones can jump.
i keep thinking that shaymus is going to break a leg or something.
it makes me nervious. glad everthing was ok when you got home
pattie and shaymus

Gosh! I bet that gave you a bit of a shock :D
Well done to Tallulah for using her pee pad all by herself though!

We used a pen made for dogs for Bentley when we first got him and kept him on our kitchen tile when we were gone. He kept getting out but we couldn't imagine with him being so little that he was jumping. The little rascal was actually using all four paws and putting them into the holes and climbing up to the top and then jumping out. We put up a video camera to see how it did it. Needless to say, we no longer call him Bentley... he is our loving Monkey! :D

Peggy, Monkey & Maddie :daisy:

I wish I had gotten the puppy cam set up on her playpen but I've been too busy loving her to get it done. I'm not going to risk leaving her in the playpen unattended again, but this weekend I will figure out how to network the camera so I can keep an eye on her on the crate. I did get it running and it takes pretty good video. Also works by remote control which is cool. Only thing I couldn't do was make it accessible from the web. I think it's probably a firewall issue.

How thrilling to be met at the back door by your furbaby! :rolleyes: I have climbers/jumpers as well and it is nervewracking. I bought a playpen with a zippered cover - a pic is below. I got it on ebay and it was very reasonably priced. My kids know how to unzip so I have to be creative in locking the zipper closed -- sometimes having smart furkids is a bother :D. Now when I need to contain I feel a bit more confident -- that is until they figure out how to chew through.

That's the same one I have and I got it from ebay too. I thought this one was escape proof but after 8 months, Brandi figured out how to get out. They are so smart, first she chewed her way out and when I patch the hole, she tunneled he way of the velcro bottom that it came with. I got home and she had managed to move the expen almost to the hallway from the bedroom trying to tunnel her way out. OH and I watched all of this on the webcam from work. My coworkers had a ball watching her. I have a little escape artist too and she has managed to get out of her crate and ex-pen. I don't think they make one she can't escaped.

I'm going to order one of those on my next paycheck. Until then, Tallulah will have to make do with the crate.

I think she will behave pretty well in the epay pen at night -- since I'm right there. And hopefully when she's just a little more consistent with her potty training, I will let her have the run of the bathroom and eventually the whole kitchen wing since it's all tiled and no doggy hazards.