I’ve been having some adventures lately with the dog. She’s incredibly sweet and well behaved and affectionate – but like all livestock guardian dogs, she has the inbuilt vice of absolutely loving to abandon all duty and run away.

She doesn’t go far. She mostly creeps across the road and sits under the neighbor’s trampoline. She could just sit around under things at our place, but that’s not good enough. She likes that spot. It’s more exciting.

At my old farm, this was also a constant issue. We had sagging, poorly installed high tensile fencing (actually ours was technically “low tensile” because of the way it was installed, ha ha) all around the 40 acres. That’s a mile of fence. If some tiny branch fell on it overnight and weighed it down/grounded it out just enough, the dogs were out like a flash, begging for pupperoni handouts and intensive grooming at the hands of well-meaning neighbors.

On the more country side, it was generally ok. You’d see other bad dogs out roaming fairly often, and people seemed to take it in stride. But if they got out on the suburnanite, “animal lover” side of the neighborhood, the side all peppered with giant stucco McMansions and overgreen chemical lawns, people would freak out.

“This dog was exhausted, panting, and dehydrated!!” They would screech once i had dropped everything and rushed over, already late for my daughter’s dance class. “And I found a tick!”

No amount of explaining about outside dogs, livestock guardian dogs, the fencing situation, or the fact that we live in a subtropical jungle could convince them that the dogs were not being abused/neglected. They didn’t go outside except to heave their large American-sized bottoms into their opulent SUV’s, so an animal living outside clearly equals abuse. The only place a dog should be most of the year is inside on an immaculate white carpet, having their perfectly groomed fur fluffed around by the AC.

The dogs, incredibly dirty, bedraggled, smug, panting, and elated, looked at me with no remorse in these situations. They would do it again, in a heartbeat. They loved the adventure, attention, and pampering they got.

The irony was that if no one messed with the dogs, they would generally grab some kind of splattered dead animal/rotten deer remains out of the ditches to chew/roll on later and head home eventually.

At the new farm we carefully installed 4ft tall sheep and goat netting all around the property. I was so tired of all the issues with the electric fences. That’s the sturdy, expensive stuff with the tinier holes so goats can’t get their heads stuck in it like the regular stuff.

  I had hoped it would also help with the dog issue, but Jasmine almost instantly realized she can just levitate over anything, so at the recommendation of my neighbors,  we installed a petsafe electric fence that is linked to a collar that gives a warning beep, and then a shock if she approaches it too closely.

It worked great for months. Then suddenly, just as I was out of town for a study program,  Jasmine was suddenly found by a neighbor miles away. She had managed to shatter her super expensive collar and escape.

I quickly ordered a new one with a payment plan, and had it mailed overnight so she wouldn’t have to sit around in a kennel for days. I know animal lover people keep their animals in crates for long periods of time (but not outside), and it’s supposed to be fine, but Jasmine feels like it’s jail and she loathes it. A friend of mine who spent a long time in jail can’t bring himself to put his dog in a crate. He said it reminds him of too much.


When I returned, she kept running away. The collar wasn’t working. We messed with it, and finally concluded it was defective, as the little blinking lights on it didn’t function the way they were supposed it, and it would start beeping hysterically even when not near the fence at all.

Getting a replacement didn’t seem to help. I keep having Kasey come out and fiddle around with different things. At this point, the collar looks like it should be working, and the fence seems to be working. When I let Jasmine out, she sits around for awhile looking like THE BEST DOG EVER. Like THE DOG WHO WILL NOT RUN AWAY, NO MATTER WHAT. Then the next time I check my phone, she’s under the neighbor’s trampoline again.


I’m walking the fences looking for shorts in the wire and transport portals.