Stilly River Sage ahs the right idea. We started taking Puppers to Runyon Canyon park (where he fell in love with Famke Jansson's dog Licorice as you may recall) when he was 6 months old so we could tire him out enough to keep him from coming up with new ways to escape. Sometimes on weekends, my husband would take him twice and hike the hill 2 times each just to get him exhausted enough to settle down at night. Big dogs need exercise or they get crafty and figure out how to escape or they decide to take a more creative route and dig a hole to the earth's core.

We took EVERY precaution a reasonable person would and yet Puppers would still find the chink in our armour. Dogs are good that. MY friend Bill had a mixed breed terrier/spaniel named Cassidy who simply LIVED to find new ways out of the yard. He dug tunnels, he chews planks, he climbed trees - he was such a naughty boy. oddly enough, when we had a very large earthquake and his two dog pals Sundance and Buster made a reak for it, Cassidy stayed home! Bill was in oregon and called us in a panic saying he had heard from a neighor that the other two had gotten out. Sundance was a Shephers/St.bernard mix and I think buster was a boxer. We had to go over to their house in the hills and search for them. I found Sundance but Buster stayed lost for days.

Keeping my fingers crossed and you in my prayers Kat