Pinot the adventure pup

It's just a couple days shy of six weeks since the husky pups arrived. It seems longer. 

Pinot went to her new home today after a couple of days being the only puppy around here. Kilo kept her company quite a bit and she found ways to entertain herself when she was alone.

Pinot was the only pup who never exhibited a bit of shyness. When the first visitors came all the puppies ran to a far corner of their space and huddled together. Except Pinot, she ran right up to them, completely fearless. That tells you everything about her that you need to know, but she kept telling us more and more as time went on. She was the first puppy to get through the divider and explore the open, grassy end of Daneland. She was the first to climb every obstacle, the first to squeeze out through the fence, etc. Combine her bold sense of adventure with her husky genetic disposition to escape, and you've got a challenging puppy on your hands, even if she is only about 15 pounds. 

There is a four foot tall divider in the puppy shed that separates the puppy space from my space, where I've got supplies stored, trash, and food. It also keeps the puppies away from the main door to the shed so I don't have to worry about one of them slipping out when I'm coming in usually with my hands full of bedding, food, and/or water. The divider is actually an foldable exercise pen and there's a gate on it so I can do through into the puppy space (see pics). 

I would close Pinot in the shed when Kilo wasn't out watching her, and always at night. However, I started finding Pinot on my side of the divider when I'd go out to check on her or to let her out. At first I thought she was pushing through the bottom of the gate. We'd had puppies do that before, so I secured it first with a carabiner, then a leash clip, and ultimately with zip ties. Still Pinot was getting through. Huskies are known to be escape artists but I was beginning to think she was an actual magician. 

It seemed to be effortless for her too. She was getting through that fence immediately after I left her alone, even though it meant leaving her food and water where she couldn't get back to them. Today I resolved to find out how she was doing it. The pictures tell the rest of the story.

Pinot outside today. One ear up, one down.

The dividing "fence" is an exercise pen. It's basically like a wire crate that's stretched out and attached to opposite walls. It's four feet tall, but here she's trying to climb it with a stuffed toy in her mouth.

There is a crate inside the puppy space and it seems she was climbing up on it to get closer to the top of the fence.

She had no trouble climbing to the top of the crate. She has done it a number of times in the past few days. 

A wire crate isn't the easiest thing to walk on, but she made it up and never dropped the toy.

She was quite proud of herself for making it up there and looked at me with an "I told you so" look on her face.

And then she headed for the top of the fence. Bear in mind that there is nothing on the other side like the crate she had used to get halfway up on. She had a four foot drop on the other side and she had done this several times already. 

The toy was still in her mouth. She was showing off and I was duly impressed. I just sat and watched as she did it. But at this point she slipped and fell and got a leg stuck in the crate. She was sort of hanging by the stuck leg and of course started screaming. I rushed to free her but had to go outside and come in through the other door because I still had the gate secured shut with a zip tie. By the time I made it in she had freed herself and was preparing to begin the climb again.

I admitted defeat and just opened the divider gate for her after that, giving her full access.

When her family came for her today, I warned them.