Gates

Please. I promise I will be good.

Poor Cheesewhiz.  She wants those gates opened because the kitchen is just to the top of the steps.  Amazingly, the humans prefer that we all stay with them when they are downstairs in the den or master bedroom, so these confounded gates are forever blocking our path.  We are welcome up there when they are there, but what is the fun in that?

You will notice that this a double gate system.  That is because a certain wooly coated girl is part kangaroo (see, Kiska, we said we would not mention your name) and can bound over gates as easily as most of us walk across a room.  The double gates on the curving steps, however, have prevented her explorations.

As we mentioned once before in a post entitled “Stuck Cheesewhiz,” certain other members of The Herd have challenged the system.

Seriously, I was not trying to get through these gates. Honest. Now put down that camera and get me out.

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****

Sorry, with the holidays upon us, we have been terrible about answering questions from readers.  But two different people asked the same question yesterday that so many others have.  Kasha the Dainty Great Dane and Rottrover both asked if we ever get to just run off-leash.

Not really.  First of all, Siberian Huskies are well known for their running skills.  In a straight line.  For 50 plus miles.  Before even getting close to being able to think about listening to something as silly as our name or the phrases “come here” or “stay” or anything else.  For every Siberian Husky out there who actually listens, we can introduce you to 100 who would not think twice about running for the border.  It is not that we are trying to run away.  It is simply that we want  run.

That field with the tree in it?  Our hu-dad has great plans for that field that include a large fenced area for us to run all we want, but it simply is not going to happen quite yet.  We are waiting, because it will be a blast.

In the meantime, we get to run pulling our carts, hike a lot, and wrestle and play in our dog lot.  That dog lot that is surrounded by Sibe Quentin that prevents those running long distance games.

Picture a fence here. We sure do.

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23 Comments

  1. Mochi & Bali on December 23, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    We can’t wait to see when that field is fenced in and see you all RUN! 🙂

    Mochi & Bali

  2. The OP Pack on December 21, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Ah yes, the gates. We have lots of them here as you have seen in our photos. The humans say they are for the little bipeds, but we know better. At least the Herd gets to go upstairs when you are up there – not US. We are first floor only sibes:(

    We hope you get that fence one day, we would love to see a six-sibe-zoomie session.

    Happy Holidays.

    Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

  3. rottrover on December 21, 2010 at 9:18 pm

    Understood! You all just look like you’d love to GO! But without the return that’s no good 🙁 And we understand about the expense of a new fence. Not that anyone at our house managed to sneak into the next door neighbor’s yard and kill chickens or anything. Or get stuck in the wash behind the fence and not be able to get back in. Never. A new fence way smaller than your lot was pretty pricy. But well worth the cost in PR!! Thanks for answering our question.

  4. Clive on December 21, 2010 at 7:18 pm

    We hope you get that fence soon! Maybe Santa Claus might deliver on it!!

    take care
    Clive and Murray

  5. Siku Marie on December 21, 2010 at 6:52 pm

    So you live in a gated community, too! Our gate cuts off our dogdoor access after lights out so we can’t decide to take midnight strolls or howl at the impending sunrise!

    You Sibes are sure an independent lot…if I wanted to travel 50 miles, I would make dad rev up Pumpkin so I could arrive in comfort and without panting/drooling!

  6. Huffle Mawson on December 21, 2010 at 5:10 pm

    I remember when that happened 🙂 I blame the evil squirrels.

  7. Gus, louie and Callie on December 21, 2010 at 5:03 pm

    Kiska we wouldn’t have believed that if we hadn’t seen it for ourselves. You and Callie girl would get along just fine. She is a leaper too..
    Hu-Dad needs to get that fence built so you all can run off leash.. It might be a great Christmas present!!!

    Big Sloppy Kisses
    Gus, Louie and Callie

  8. Fiona on December 21, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    Heehee. Apparently that double gate system works, huh? We used to have gates in our house – mostly to protect us from Mr. Bufus (he was quite territorial… I still don’t like going upstairs), and to keep TaiChi from encountering stairs after she went blind. Now the gates (they are semi-permanent) mostly stay open. But no double gates. Mostly because neither Abby nor I have much of a vertical leap!

    *kissey face*
    -Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

  9. Hawk aka BrownDog on December 21, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    Merry Christmas y’all!

    Just wanted to stop and wish y’all a very Merry Christmas.

    Fence! Thank Heavens I don’t have the urge to run in a straight line with no recall! I’d never be loose! The Humans managed to get someone to drill into the rock and put a small “run” sized yard outside for me, but those pictures you see of me are in the unfenced area. The man refused to fence anymore than he did.

    Here at the shore the waterfront is not fenced. And a neighbor took down the dog fencing the Humans had behind some of the shrubbery. Now their dogs come over…but that is a story for another time.

    Merry Christmas!
    Hawk aka BrownDog

  10. Khyra on December 21, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    A fluffy tail a leaping 😉

    The unnamed ‘K’angaroo and I would get along pawesomely!

    As fur running and the name thing?

    SNIKHKERING….

    Hugz&Khysses,
    Khyra
    PeeEssWoo: And yes, that is my mom woo hear panting!

  11. Stella on December 21, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    Did you order about 50 bazillion feet of fence from Jolly Old St. Nick? That nice play park by your tree would be most wonderful!

    Kisses,
    Stella

  12. Kristine on December 21, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    Our Shiva is a wannabe-Kangaroo as well. Our gate is positioned at exactly the top of the stairs. There is no way she would have enough room to jump over it going down the stairs or going up them. It’s perfect. Gotta love gates! I like your system as well. Very out-smarting of the canines. 🙂

    My childhood dog was a Sibe and I lost count how many times she ran away on us while letting her off-leash. Somehow we always got her back but if I was to have another, I would be sticking with fences and long lines myself.

  13. Kari on December 21, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    Glad the double gate system is holding up. Mesa would just bulldoze through them 😉

    Kari
    http://dogisgodinreverse.com/

  14. Mike Criss on December 21, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    Siberians bolt! Our Donner is never trusted off leash. Totem is better, but there is a pretty busy road about a 1/2 mile away so we keep him in harness too.
    The only time I can let them off is when we get back from a very fast run.
    We have a small fenced yard for them, but they spend most their time inside with us. As a matter of fact Totem is on our bed napping!

  15. FiveSibesMom on December 21, 2010 at 11:38 am

    Ahhh yes. The bedreaded gates! We have a system in our house too, they are some kind of adult-proof slide the top and pull up at the same time type of steel “child” gate…what is it with woolies? My Gib knows just how to do that two-part magic act. He is known as “Houdini Husky” at his former groomers because he could open his kennel gate and he’d be strolling around visiting the other grooming prisoners. That wooly Sibe skill got him into a bit of trouble a few weeks back when he was gated out of the kitchen (broken glass) and then when we weren’t looking (for a second) he left himself back in…and then closed the gate behind him. Needless to say, he got into the shards, licking the remnants of food and had a bloody tongue. It looked like a vampire hit my kitchen floor….thankfully, he is OK. Just a few cuts to his tongue. Childproof gates do not equal Sibe-proof gates!

  16. Mimi & CC Cabana on December 21, 2010 at 10:18 am

    Better safe than sorry, for sure, with both the gates and keeping the Herd on leash. I love the idea of building a huge running area around the tree! How awesome it would be to let them just run and run.

  17. Anna the GSD on December 21, 2010 at 10:12 am

    Gates? We don’t need no stinkin’ GATES!!!

    And fences rock! Maybe Santa could drop one in for you?

  18. Shawnee the Shepherd on December 21, 2010 at 9:36 am

    Fenced yards RAWK! But real fences, not none of those electical invisibull fences – BLECH! Mom HATES them and would not adopt dogs to peeples wot used them. Case in point here if’n you hasn’t seened this (it do be a funny news story feeturing a husky but you’ll see wot I mean…):
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiCXLXcSTd4

  19. Wild Dingo on December 21, 2010 at 9:02 am

    ohh… i know that husky run quite well. i’ll never forget the day i brought juno to a beach class with loki after having had her pass her first ABC and therapy dog. i hadn’t worked her in a while but i was so confident in her ability to behave. because she had such a solid down/stay and recall. HA! if she’s not worked regularly, she showed me what can happen! she blew off her down stay and ran straight away. nothing i could do except get loki to me, shrug my shoulders and walk away. no amount of “juno come” had her coming… well thank god she had some excellent pack bonding (thanks to loki)… becasue she wouldn’t stray too far from us and eventually came back. I think if i had a herd of huskies i’m not sure i could trust them off leash, not even 2. they are bad influences on eachother that way! but having just her with loki who’s prone never to go out of my sight has just rubbed off on her in the same way. she doesn’t let me out of sight though she can go pretty far still! but like i said, if i had another, there’s no way i’d test that. i think i’m just lucky that she is competitive with Loki for my affection because that in itself keeps her pretty close by.

    i can’t wait til you build your fence! i can imagine the amount time/money it will take. especially if you really want it “husky proofed.”

    btw: the travelmarx stayed one of first nights in italy with a Siberian Husky breeder /keeper. She had a huge fancy kennel (very posh actually which made me happy to see given some breeders can be chinsey that way)… and it looked like all her dogs were just beautiful and happy and running off lead a lot in their spacious dog runs. The marx said they talked a lot but were really friendly dogs! duh! huh? 🙂

  20. KB on December 21, 2010 at 8:30 am

    Speaking of kangaroos, when I was young, I worked in a place that had two resident kangaroos. One day, they were not in their pen, and we needed a place to stash our two young labradors. We thought, “no way that a lab can get out of a pen that houses kangaroos. The fences are definitely high enough”. Well, our crazy dogs managed to *climb* the fence and go for a run. Oh my, once we found them, we laughed and laughed!

    Kiska the kangaroo – I like that one!

  21. Ryker on December 21, 2010 at 7:55 am

    You guys need a sled to run and pull you dad in…Mush!

  22. Houndstooth on December 21, 2010 at 7:14 am

    I am betting that when that fence goes up, it will be known as Siberian Nirvana! Ours would love that, too!

    Your gates don’t seem to be too popular with the girls, there! “Don’t fence me in!”

  23. Stumpy and cyndi on December 21, 2010 at 6:25 am

    Having once had a husky I can attst to their mad dash running skills. Also, their escaping skills rival Houdini!

    When the fence gets built the beans will be just as happy as the dogs to see them frolic around that most beautiful tree. I’ll be hoping for a May Day dance!

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