Sophie the Escape Artist

After all that fuss to build a new fence to keep my puppy safe and secure, Sophie has been finding a way out! She's only recently been allowed to play alone in the backyard, and three separate times she has magically appeared outside the fence. I checked all the obvious things - gates not fully latched, gaps under the fence... it was none of these things. I was starting to think that she was squeezing herself through the fence bars and I would have to fatten her up to solve the problem... when I caught her walking on top of the lava rock wall.

 

The wall is lower at the north end and slopes up at the south end - where there's a gap between the wall and the new gate. The gap never seemed to be a cause for concern because there was no way she could jump the 5 ft rock wall at that end. ((The wall is about 4.5 feet where she's standing in the picture.)) Apparently she figured out that she could get up on the wall at the low end, walk on the narrow ledge for about 60 feet as it sloped up to the south end, and escape through the gap! The access at the low end is now blocked with large flower pots. Yesterday, I saw her sniffing and whining at the flower pots. Curses! Foiled again!

 

My IQ is 147. Hers appears to be 146 - giving me just a slight edge! Humans are in the lead, but not by much!