Our Escape Artist

This past Wednesday, I went about my morning per usual. Tom and I got the kids ready for school. Tom and Austen left for school and work. And, I put Sadie in her crate and then took Peyton and Hailey to school.

When I returned home three hours later, I opened the door and there was a stuffed animal on the floor. Weird, I thought. How did Hailey leave that there when I was the last one out? I climbed the stairs and noticed one of Hailey's boots from the boot tray downstairs was now at the top of the stairs. I still was not registering why these things were out of place until our 3 1/2 month old puppy came bounding around the corner to greet us. She looked thrilled. I, however, was not.

Oh my God, I thought,  how did she get out? I know I put her in her crate. I took her out right away before I even had a chance to survey the damage. Good news. She went to the bathroom outside almost immediately. A good sign. I breathed a sigh of relief. After I got back inside, I surveyed the damage walking through each part of the house. What I found was that aside from the boot and the stuffed animal that she licked to death, the only other thing that she did was pull a string on our front door mat. Really? That was it?! She could have done so much more damage. How long was she even out?

My mind raced through so many different scenarios. She could have choked on one of the kids' toys left out or fallen down our steep stairs. But nope, she was okay. She didn't destroy anything and aside from being very tired, she looked none too worse for the wear.

So how did she do it? She squeezed her fat little body through a small opening I failed to properly latch on the bottom of the crate. She must've been working it for awhile too because she seemed exhausted after her little adventure.