Cosmo is a pretty big Pomeranian. I think he's around 13 lbs. Of course, his breed grows such thick fur that you can't even tell how much dog there really is. In the summer he gets shaved down. I don't know how much this helps him stay cool, because five inches of fur insulates you from the sun as much as it does from cold and dogs don't sweat to cool themselves via exposed skin, but it makes every human looking at him feel less suffocated.

The problem with a shaved down Pomeranian is that he becomes a much smaller Pomeranian. And he has tasted freedom before.

Back on 5/31 the gate to the backyard wasn't latched and the dogs got out. They made their way home with some herding help from a neighbor. She did get my number off one of their tags and called, but coincidentally I had lost my phone under the bed the night before and hadn't found it yet. It just so happened that she was following them back up our street when I realized they were missing and went looking for them.

A week later it happened again. The issue was that the latch to the gate was just a hook and eye setup on the inside. @dragonjaze likes to leave and enter the house via the front door to work in the back yard, so the gate doesn't get latched. Sometimes friction holds it closed, sometimes it doesn't. After the first time it probably doesn't work too well against dogs that know it opens and know how to push things. So after the second time, one week apart, we got (i.e. @dragonjaze installed) a better latch that works automatically and from both sides — via a string on one side.

Knowing that was there and working, I was rather surprised when the doorbell rang with the dogs outside. I answered the door to find ... Cosmo! And the boys he gathered to do the bell ringing for him. I had just looked out at them five minutes earlier, so it's almost like he got out just because he could and then went to the front door specifically to surprise me.

This is what I found at the corner of the back porch:

That's plenty big enough for him without his full coat. I temporarily put some bricks there, but having gotten out that way before, he might just push them out of the way.

I don't remember if that hole for the downspout has always been that big or if it had any recent help.

Probably a simple couple stakes with netting is enough of a permanent solution as far as the dogs go. I'll have to keep an eye on it in case any other animals have been using it. We had a pair of raccoons on the neighboring roof a few days ago, who might have seen the garden and drooled ....