My Escape Artist...

[myhoneymoonbaby]

Okay-so my husband and I got home from work yesterday to greet our "almost" 2 year old 13lb Cairn-Vinny. (he is normally crated every work day, and has never had any major problems before) When we opened the door and looked over at the cage, Vinny was gone-but the cage still remained fastened shut. Mind boggling! I immediately paniced and screamed his name, to be answered with a loud "thump" as he jumped off our bed and ran downstairs to greet us.

I first checked him to make sure he was okay-which shockingly enough, he was. When we walked over to the cage to ponder on how the heck he managed to do this, then shut/lock the gate door behind him, I noticed one steel bar removed, and two of them were bent outwards, creating about a small 3 inch hole. Obviously this is how he got out.

However-what is even more boggling is that my 200lb husband who works out 2x daily tried himself to bend the bars to determine how Vinny did this, and was UNABLE TO BUDGE THEM! If you looked at the small opening, it almost looked like the bars were heated then bent. How in the world did my 13 pound cairn managed to do this???????? I'm starting to believe he has godly powers! Ha!

He has NEVER tried to escape the cage in the last year he's been in there!!! I think that because we live in a condo complex with another unit directly on the other side of the wall, our "newly moved in" neighbors (and there 4 year old cockapoo) must've been making noise and he just couldn't be trapped in there...

Thoughts??

[pkcrossley]

funny story! clearly vinny has never bitten you, or you'd be vividly impressed with how strong their teeth and jaws are. my dog has never done anything as impressive as that, but he can destroy any "indestructible" toy and chew his way through wooden gates.

at 13 lbs vinny is very tiny! i guess he was trying to tell you he has graduated from the crate thing.

[myhoneymoonbaby]

Ha-you are right! In fact, today we left him out, and tossed the crate! It is strange because he is never destructive and has never been a "chewer". I only still left him crated to avoid him having an accident while Im gone.

Ugh-he is so smart!!!!!!!!

[kayharley]

That is an incredible story...

I do know this much...never underestimate the power of a Cairn. If you ever do figure out what happened, please let us know.

[Saidi'sDad]

Yes, they are very strong and determined. We have a gutter drain pipe under our deck that Saidi has pulled out 3 feet before. It's so burried and stuck under the deck that it takes me 20 minutes of strenuous work to get it back in place. Dont ask me how they do it but they have the willpower of a bulldozer sometimes!

[kjwarnold]

Wow, Vinny is a regular Houdini! Packy got out of his soft-sided crate one time in the car. Not sure how he unzipped it, but my guess is he got his foot up there just right and pulled the zipper (which was on the outside) down. When we came back to the car, he was laying on my seat napping. Wouldn't you like to have a little video camera that can watch them while we're not around???

[Darcy's Folks]

Pack him up and take him on the road! Surely you can make money off of that show!!!! I can hear his little brain now.... "watch me pull myself out of this crate". Pretty crazy and really unbelievable situation... but I bet he'd been working the crate for a while. At least he didn't get hurt thank goodness.

[Cairnmania]

If your house was in good order when you returned I'd consider either giving him full freedom, or, confining him to a larger area such as the kitchen with his crate door open.

I've known dog trainers how have had special, heavy duty crates built to contain dogs that have literally chewed through the metal on regular crates. It is less unusual than you might suspect if a dog is really determined to get out of a crate.

(Maybe your husband should change his workout routine - he may not be getting as much out of it as he should!)

[Eliz222]

I would love to see how he did it.

[myhoneymoonbaby]

ha-you all are cracking me up! I wish I had a camera to see how he did it! I think it would've been truly amazing to see! We were lucky though, he didn't have a scratch on him...HE MADE IT LOOK SO EASY! He is a trip!

I think Vinny has graduated the crate-I have officially given him the run of the house for the last two days and all is well so far. (except for the tinkle accident under my bed)