Headstrong Houdini Hound Hampered

That Gomez!

No other dog in this house is as hell-bent on escaping as Gomez. No sooner do I find and plug up his current escape route, he is quickly at work creating another one.

Gomez cannot be in the yard for even 2 minutes before he makes his way out to happily explore whatever sights, sounds, and scents ~ especially scents ~ lie beyond the confines of the most generously sized dog yard.

It would not have been so bad if Gomez stuck to our back field or even perhaps had gone through the woods to explore the bog beyond. But the pooch also likes to check out the action on Route 6.

A couple of weekends ago, while I was at church, Ariana said that a white truck appeared in the driveway with a gleeful Gomez in the front seat. The driver of the truck, one of the town's animal control officers, said that he found Gomez way up on Route 6.

Just this morning, after putting the dogs out for their bathroom duty, I went outside to place Neil's package in the mail box and collect the recycling bins and morning newspaper.

I had barely made it to the recycling containers when I heard that familiar jingle of dog tags. Sure enough, there he was, gaily trotting without a care in the world.

I used to think that Gomez would not even think of escaping just before feeding time. However, this was the second time that he didn't bother to wait for breakfast in order to go off exploring on his own.

Finally, I decided that something had to be done. After all the Sears service technician was due here tomorrow to fix the stove. I didn't want to take the chance of Gomez escaping when I put the dogs out and while the fellow was working inside.

Also, once this house gets put on the market and potential buyers start tramping through the house, Gomez is going to have to be spending a lot more time outside.

This time I wasn't going to bother with trying to find and plug up his escape hole. After all, he was just going to find another way out.

Also, I really was in no mood to be hauling heavy rocks and logs to the other side of the fence while navigating the many craters and land mines in the dog yard.

(Somehow, the breaches need to be sealed from the opposite side of the fence. Otherwise, Gomez manages to find ways around them.)

This time I was going to do something different. I was going to do what Neil did with our first dog, Draco, when we still did not have a fence.

I was going to create a trolley dog run by running a cable from the back door to the cherry tree some 60 or 70 feet from the door.

So, after going to the lawyer's to sign some paperwork, I went to Mahoney's hardware store to get 100 feet of aircraft cable, a turn-buckle, a swivel clip with an eye at the opposite end, a 1/2-inch pulley, and 5 cable fasteners.

That should do it.

However, no sooner had I walked out the door, I realized that Neil took his tools with him to Texas, and I did not have anything to cut the cable with. Thank God I made that discovery before I reached my car instead of having gone all the way home.

So, I immediately went back in, and had the fellow at the store find me the appropriate cutting tool.

Now I was all set for business.

Setting up the dog trolley, while a simple project, was not the easiest task.

I did not have the proper tool to tighten the screws on the cable fasteners. The best tool for the job would have been a spanner. But all I had was a Leatherman tool.

And it was an agonizingly slow process using the pliers on my Leatherman. Not only that, it was tiring working with my arms way over my head.

Getting the cable through the eye of the pulley was no easy task either because the hole was tight and tiny. I had to shave some of the protective coating off the cable and then use the pliers to grip the end and slowly work the cable through the eye.

The most difficult part was getting the tension on the cable before putting on the fastener. For this part of the operation, I decided to use a step ladder because I needed to be more level with the fastener in order to maintain better control of the tension as I clamped on the fastener.

With that done, all I had to do was close up the turn-buckle.

Now I was ready for the final set of the operation ~ attaching the swivel clip. But before doing that, I went to check the length of the lead cable, making sure that it was not going to be too long.

In fact, it was just the right length. (I inwardly gloated over my correctly estimating the amount of cable I needed.)

But as I started pulling the lead cable, I noticed something very wrong. The pulley was not moving.

The pulley would only move if my hand was holding the cable directly underneath it. Otherwise, it would remain stuck on the line.

Arrrrgh!

I couldn't believe it!

It was bad enough that I would have to go back to the store to exchange that 1/2-inch pulley for a 3/4-inch one. What was going to be an even bigger bitch was to disassemble the trolley and reassemble it once I replaced the small pulley with a larger one.

The 3/4-inch pulley worked beautifully. And I was all set to step down from the ladder and attach the clip when I noticed it. The damn turn-buckle was closed when I reattached the cable.

Damn!

That meant having to once more take apart that infernal contraption so that I could open up the turn-buckle.

Once that was done, I looped the end of the cable through the turn-buckle's eye, pulled the cable as hard as I could to create tension, and then tightly gripped the cable in my teeth as I struggled to maintain tension while attaching the fastener.

That wasn't the easiest thing to do. I pretty much had to thread the tiny bolts onto the small ends by feel because the fastener was too close to my face in order for me to be able to properly focus my eyes on it.

The fastener popped off before I could get the damn thing screwed together. The bottom piece went flying. Fortunately it landed on the porch where I could easily see and retrieve it.

However, that meant climbing down the step ladder, making sure that I held onto to cable w/my hand, lest that slip and I would have to go chasing after it.

By now, I was getting a lot of practice at maintaining cable tension while attaching cable fasteners. I finally got the fastener on good and tight. And then I closed up the turn-buckle so that I had a nice, taut line.

The last step was to attach the swivel clip to the end of the lead cable.

For that, I was going to make sure that I was going to be warm and comfortable. So I brought inside the cable, made myself comfortable on the couch, and completed the operation by attaching the swivel clip to the end of the cable.

Mission accomplished!

Now I can have peace of mind when Gomez goes out.

Looking back at my handiwork, I can say that I am quite pleased with myself. Not only did I have the ability to plan and execute such a project, but I also did it all by myself with no help from anyone.

Knowing that I am capable of performing tasks outside my realm of experience is a great feeling.

I guess I can say that I am proud of myself and can give myself a nice pat on the back.

Now get me some power tools!