Elliot's Yard

As soon as Elliot’s fence was complete, I opened the front door and, for the first time, he was allowed to leave the house alone and without his leash.

He raced to the kennel - the gate was open - and brought all his toys out into the big yard. The quilt he was used to lying on, was also dragged out to join the toys.

As I sat on the porch steps watching him, he chewed his marrow bone, then picked up a tennis ball, left in the yard with many others that had belonged to Sarah, and brought it to me to throw. All I had to do was tap the step beside me and he dropped the ball right there. Either he is the smartest dog I have ever encountered, or somewhere in his early life, he was taught these things, although I don’t think he was taught how to move house from kennel to open yard – fenced in of course.

I thought of Sarah, who spent her outside time chained to a tree with twenty-five feet of plastic covered wire, which allowed her to lie in the yard or on the porch. Sarah had no fence and was prone to roaming, and often managed to race out the door and disappear for a couple of hours

So far Elliot does not spend much time on the porch. Down the steps he races, as he runs to his cache, chewing a bone, pulling the stuffing out of the quilt, or playing with a toy.

The six foot wooden fence hides his outside view. So, when he hears another dog on the street, he races across the yard to the wire fence that separates him from the parking area. There he can look out through the metal gates to activity on the street. Once he is trained, he will be able to join them outside the fence.