Terrier-proofing

When some terrier's find a mouse, there really is no such thing as terrier proofing the area where they want to hunt. Still, you have to try.

When Samish was fostered at our house last year we learned right away that there was a mouse living behind our shed. In fact he flushed the thing out and it skittered up and over the fence about 12" from where I was leaning against us. Very cute little guy, but still startling. We attempted to Samish proof the area and soon Samish was adopted and that far, lower, hidden corner of the yard was pretty much forgotten.

Enter Chima and Salinas. Like Samish, the girls live to hunt and will stop at nothing to get to their prey. They've been regularly checking the trees for scents in case the raccoons have come down to play at dog level but today they found the shed and its mice. The precautions we had made for 10 pound Samish to keep him out from behind the shed where not really enough to stand in the way of 25 pound Chima. Luckily she was too big to fit behind there but Salinas managed to shimmy in there sideways, and that's when I knew we had to create some stronger terrier proofing.

The girls were beside themselves, attempting to climb over or dig under, or better yet, dig through the fence. After about 5 minutes of them compulsively digging at the area and attempting to wedge themselves behind the shed or knock it down, whichever came first, I rounded them up (on leashes) and took them inside for some crate time so they could calm down. Chima had tried to jam her nose through the fence, from the look of the lime dust lichen on her nose.

"What's that? There's something on my nose?"

"Are you sure?"

We dug around for old pavers, rocks, whatever we could find that was heavy and would at least somewhat block the girls from behind there. It's a temporary measure but hoping that it will last for another week or so while we find some nice rocks to line behind there with.  Clearly, a doggy door would not be a good option for Chima who would have happily dug down under the fir duff to get under the fence and follow the mice as they made their escape.  My neighbor's young adult children are visiting and they are camping out in the back yard. Let's just say the dogs' last pee break of the night at 12 am was a leeeetle bit noisy. However, I think it will be the 7 am wake up hunting that the neighbors will be unhappy about.

Attempt at blocking the side of the shed to the dogs

Creating a base that the dogs can't dig through or hurt themselves on. Not pretty but no one but the mice and the dogs have to look at it.