Isa's Story

Almost two months on the property in the trailer, I thought it time for an update.

First thing I did was to build an enclosure for Roxy. Not very big, admittedly, and I will enlarge it as time allows. I have explained this to her ad nauseum but it matters not. I have repaired and/or reinforced the Roxy Roundup on an almost daily basis so any Roundup expansion has been delayed. As is, it’s not a bad space – she has a couple of beds and a good deal of shade, water and toys. I do need to buy or build a dog house for her as monsoon season has started and seems to be serious about it this year, at least so far. Nonetheless, she refuses to stay put.

Her escape maneuvers have led us to this:

Oh that face!

Have you ever seen such pathos? Such abuse at the hands of a mean-spirited human? She pulled a nail completely off/away from the nail bed. And while I have no evidence one way or the other, I am quite certain she did it ripping a hole in the wire fencing.

Sunday I spent all morning adding a second layer of fencing, reinforcing the wire that she tears through like butter. I had her in the roundup while I was working to both keep an eye on her and keep me company. She knew exactly what I was doing – whined at me a good deal of the time. I finished that up, let her out and went on to another project. Here is where y’all can judge me as a bad mom: I let her wander loose on the property when I’m outside with her. She mostly stays close by. Not to mention that on days when I’m at work all day, she rarely spends more than ten minutes in the Roundup and wanders the hillside(s). Generally, locking her up seems to me to be a moot exercise.

I hear her go full guard dog “I’m going to eat you” and I scamper over to prevent mayhem. There’s a guy posting a notice on the empty house next door and she is taking exception to his presence. I restrain her but since I’m trying to get electricity to the property and there are one or two potential problems with the size of the easement on that lot, I want to talk to this guy. He agrees to wait while I put her in the (newly reinforced) Roundup so we can carry on a conversation. I go back and explain what I’m trying to do. Less than three minutes later “someone” bounds up with renewed threats of immediate consumption of the stranger danger. I grab her and shout/finish the conversation with the guy. He leaves and I chuck her into the trailer while I fix the hole she dug under the fence. For the record, I left later in the afternoon to go to a friend’s for dinner. She was out when I got home. Twice in one day.

And yes, I’m a bad mom. I didn’t fix that hole. It was late when I got home Sunday (and raining) and raining when I got home Monday. Let the punishment fit the crime.

So this morning, I put her into the Roundup and drove off. I stopped at the bottom of the driveway to grab the mail and continued on my merry way. About a block down the road I see movement in my side mirror — she is chasing after me. I stop and try to get her into the car. She bounces at me a few times “isn’t this a good game, mom?” and then turns around and gallops back up the driveway.

Well okay then. I get in the car and proceed. Another quarter of a mile, maybe more, and again movement in the mirror. I stop and this time she it willing to get into the car, breathing hard. I was doing 15-20 mph so she had to work to catch up. I turn the car around and take her home. Block the hole with a plastic bin and boulder. I have zero confidence that held more than ten minutes but it was enough so I could actually leave for work. And yes, all of this with the bandage on her foot. We shed the cone of shame relatively early (and it is shredded) – remarkably, she’s not bothered/chewed on the bandage. She might start today. I reinforced it with duct tape this morning and I suspect it smells funny and needs to be removed.

So that’s our on-going adventure/game. I did win one battle (I will never win the war). I built one of these about six inches in diameter along the base of the fence (called a “gabion”). Mine’s not nearly this pretty.

The ground is so rocky it’s impossible to pin the fencing down and this worked (heaven knows there’s more than enough rock around for this). It’s tied to the bottom edge and she can’t budge it. To date she has either torn a hole in the fencing (now reinforced) or dug under where I don’t (yet) have a gabion installed. Silly me, I thought the trees would be a deterrent. I can’t say as I know what my next step is.

Otherwise, I think Roxy is happy at our new home. Her confidence has increased and she only rarely goes into full guard dog mode. Our old house required massive guarding 24/7. I’m starting to figure out my way around living in an RV and its “unique” challenges. I’m probably as organized as I’ll ever be living in 200-odd square feet. I’ve started on the research for building the house but don’t really expect to break ground until next spring. Getting electricity to the lot is taking about three times as much money as I had expected/completely made up so I need to save up some dollars. Short of winning the lottery, that’s the plan.

Here are a couple more pictures of the property:

The first one is sort of where the house (might) will be. The other is the view from where I will have the mondo deck built.

In other news, it’s July (that’s not the news part) – anniversary of Isa’s diagnosis and amputation. Hard to believe it’s been two years since then and yet it feels like a lifetime ago. Made taking Roxy to the vet, two days after Isa’s ampuversary, rather poignant. Some days, one simply keeps putting one foot in front of the other.

So that’s about all I have to say for myself. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

Love

Teri, Wallee, the Roxinator and Angel Isa