The other night I was up late and my dog, Kelev ,  started barking. I stepped out onto the porch to listen, the neighborhood was alive with dogs yelping and barking but then I heard the creepiest thing I have heard so far on our property, I wasn’t sure if it was a dog yelping in pain or a cat yowling in a fight, but whatever it was, the dogs around did not like it and neither did I. I went and woke up my husband to come listen.

Wouldn’t you know, as soon as my husband steps onto the porch, it never made another sound.

With a little research online I come across this video.

This, without a doubt, was the sound I heard over by my hen house in the wee early morning hours! I read that they bark like this to establish that this is now their territory. Well, that… just will not do!

I need my dogs to establish that this is THEIR territory and not a fox’s! But I have a slight problem.

My hen & goat yard is placed between the fenced wood line and my shed. I have a privacy fence separating my front yard from my back yard so they do not trample my garden.  This makes it impossible for my dogs to run at night and keep the critters away from my chickens.  My hens are put up in the hen & goat shed at night but if a very determined fox wanted in, they could dig under and get in. I needed my dogs to keep that from happening! So I had a bright idea, make a doggy door through the privacy fence into the chicken yard! So hubby went right to work!

First, he screwed two 2×2 boards to the backside of the fence to create a framework so when he  cut through the slats it would maintain the perfect privacy fence look when it was closed.

He fastened hinges on two slats, one that would be the edge of the door and the other that would be the stationary fence. Then with a skill saw he cut through the upper slats…

…and lower slats!

Trimmed off the excess of the 2×2 so it didn’t drag when it was opened. And he was done in no time!!

Kelev approves!!

This is the view from the chicken & goat pen!

My son added a latch so that it can be closed shut during the day when the hens and goats are out in their yard and opened at night when they are put up in the hen & goat house. That will allow the dogs to run the fence line keeping that sneaky fox from thinking my property is it’s territory!

The dogs took right to their newest job. Kelev and Jibbles (the blur) made their late night patrol of the hen yard. The game “hen” camera I have in the pen shows that every couple hours the dogs went through, sniffing, looking, & guarding.

In this picture, Kelev in looking intently at an area, I have to wonder if he may be letting that ol’ fox know, “This is MY  territory and I am a LOT bigger than you, so you best take notice! You have to go through me to get to those who are left under my care!”

Blessings to you,

Becky

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