We had a dog
Which you couldn't keep in.
The battle to "fence" him
You just couldn't win.
We put up a fence
Which we thought would work,
But he would get out
And our patience would irk.
He slipped through the space
Which was under the gate.
We added a board there
His fun to "deflate".
Then he dug a hole
And went under the fence.
We sank wire and bricks there,
To foil his keen sense.
When we were not looking
He still would get out.
When we thought he was home
He was "out and about".
It took a long time
Before he got caught.
His secret was NOT
What any of us thought.
We lived on a lot
Which was seventy feet wide,
With a hedge clear across,
Behind which he'd hide.
He ran the yard's width
Behind the old hedge.
He would start out
At the yard's far edge.
To get up some speed
He would run fast and hard,
Climb the fence and jump over
Into the next yard.
Our six-foot tall fence
Did not stop him at all.
He had learned how to climb
Even though he was small.
We used to think
That our dog must have wings.
But his secret was this...
In his back legs were springs!
© 2007 Arlene Schwartzkopf