Sunday 23 February 2014

All Fenced In

I can see you!

The one side of our garden fence is what was there when we originally moved in 28 years ago and has been getting a bit rickety of late. We have had to keep putting extra bits of wood at the base and pieces of wire to stop both next doors Jack Russell, Tinker, from digging through to us or Hugo and Pip jumping over to her, not to mention the two rabbits and guinea pig which also reside in her garden. As the old fence was only 4ft tall (sorry ARW!!!!) and Akitas are notorious for being escape artists, we have been intending to replace it with something taller for the last year. Hugo and Pip have never made any attempt to actually jump over and there are various pots and raised beds along the fence line to keep them back a bit but they spent many a happy hour balanced on the top of my planted-up sink looking over the fence, keeping an eye on activities next door.

I can't see them anymore!
The last few winds have finally taken their toll and the one panel gave way about a fortnight ago which meant we could no longer leave the back door open when we were not at home as there was direct access through to next door and to their little furries. This in itself has not really been a problem as the weather has been so horrible Hugo and Pip have not wanted to go out anyway and spend most of the day asleep on our bed. In fact, Hugo in particular, did not seem to notice the 6ft wide gap in the fence and would still go and sit on the sink to look over (sometimes wonder about him!). Pip was a bit more astute and would stand on all the barricades sniffing and seeing what she could see so we had to keep a very watchful eye on her and call her in before she got too interested.

I'll just guard this bit of wood!
At last, yesterday, there was the promised break in the weather so we set aside the day to do the necessary work. Martin (my OH) began by removing the five panels so exposing our garden to next doors. Hugo and Pip were very well behaved to begin with and Tinker stayed in her garden too. One of the old posts proved trickier to remove than the others and as we were all concentrating on this we didn't notice Hugo sneak past and make a dash for the rabbit running around in its large, uncovered run. Fortunately, he was grabbed just in time and made to come back over to his own side, although he was very upset by everyone shouting at him, especially when he was pulled and pushed back through - very undignified. Whilst the attention was on Hugo, Pip thought she would join in the fun and tried to make a dash through too but was quickly held back. Needless to say they were shut back in the house for a while and next door put the rabbits and guinea pig back in their shed for safe keeping. 

Hugo can jump!
The fence quickly went up and we let Hugo and Pip back out while the remaining panels went in. Suddenly, we were totally enclosed with a 6ft tall fence that matched the opposite side of the garden making us totally private and not overlooked at all which is brilliant. Unfortunately, Hugo did not feel the same and keep wondering up and down the fence whimpering, trying to find a gap to see through. Miss Pip now barks when she hears anything next door so hope she gets used to it and doesn't keep that up!

Enjoying the sunshine
We sat down outside in the sun taking a well earned rest and couldn't believe it when Hugo, who normally  struggles to climb up on to the sofa, suddenly jumped with no effort at all on to the patio table, turned round and lay down! He repeated this several more times during the afternoon so we are very glad we have raised the height of the fence as, judging by this performance, he could have cleared the old one without a problem. As Pip is a lot more agile and regularly jumps over the arm of the sofa to get on it we are sure it would only been a matter of time before there would have been rabbit pie on the menu!!!