An understanding

Ruthie and I have come to sort of an understanding and an uneasy truce.

She's become increasingly demanding and vocal about her desire to be somewhere other than confined to the kitchen with Pete.

We have kiddie gates blocking the kitchen access to the stairs and to the dining room and she challenges both. She was getting pretty good at knocking down the one on the stairs until I set it more firmly. Ditto the one on the dining room door.

Then she discovered that even though she is in her mid-50s in human years, she can leap over the gate. So I took a tip from Maria and raised the one in the dining room door - not so high that she could squeeze under it, but high enough to challenge her jumping skills.

She just jumped higher and cleared the raised gate.

There are three alternatives:

1. Let her stay outside. This would have been fine a year ago when we still had a functioning Invisible Fence system that kept her in the yard. Now post-garage disaster, she flees the yard and roams the neighborhood - not an acceptable arrangement.
2. Let her into the rest of the house.
3. Lock her in her kennel and listen to her yark all day.

I've chosen the second, as long as she remembers that the back yard is her toilet.

So while I work at my desk, she uses the underside of Maria's desk as a den and naps contentedly.

Ruthie wins again.