The landscape in New Zealand – nobody will be too surprised – is slightly different from that in the Netherlands. “Hilly” is the least one might call it. There are some flat and tight lawns to be found, but they are not often seen.
From the moment we came to live in our property on a 1/5 acre section, we soon realised that a part of the garden was to be sacrificed to Cassy and Lady and possible subsequent IWSs. For those who haven’t visited us yet, here’s a short description: our house and garden are located at the lowest part of a hill slope. That slope is covered with native bush and belongs to our uphill neighbours.
Cassy is of the kind that seeks back cover when he goes to the toilet. Preferably between the shrubs, however in such a way that he can still watch the surroundings. If lacking shrubs, a slope with some grass is a good alternative. Both options are available in our garden. Therefore during summer of 2007/2008, between Christmas and the first week of January, we created a barrier fence in order to divide the lawn into two sections and with our upper neighbour’s consent we wove chicken mesh between and through the shrubs on the slope. Thus creating a doggy day care area for the dogs and probable next generation of pets. It was time for our house warming party and the ultimate test: Cassy and Lady in their new outside run!
Unfortunately, the fence of 1.10 meter high appeared not to be a barrier for Cassy. From sitting position Mr. IWS jumped without any visible effort with his front and hind legs onto the top of the fence to jump on the ground again, with a big smile on his face. Ultimate test failed.
We were not amused: days of measuring, digging holes with a 10 kg 1.60m crowbar, sawing posts, mixing concrete and hammering in the burning sun. All that labour for nothing, not to speak of the costs. What to do next? Another fence on top of the existing fence with lesser view as a result?
Fortunately, once in a while we do need some sleep and overnight a brilliant idea came up. No, not the additional fence on top of the current one. A few meters of clothing line, two wire wrenches, 8 screw-eyes and a long 6 mm wood drill were sufficient to create a new barrier on top of the fence. A couple of weeks later it was fixed and ready for the (second) ultimate test.
For a few weeks, Mr. and Mrs. I.W. Spaniel were locked in their run, however not without any protest. Till the day we got visitors. The chicken mesh wasn’t resistant to Cassy’s curiosity. He had discovered that he was able to jump over the 90cm high mesh between the shrubs. He took it for granted that he had to take a detour so that he could join us. Once more, the ultimate test failed. Again an IWS turned out to be smarter than we were. Due to the fact that our dog day area wasn’t IWS-proof yet, the dogs had to stay in the garage while we were at work. Hoping that while Cassy was getting older and suffering from poor short term memory, we moved our dogs to the outdoor area every time we came home from work. Two days later it wasn’t Cassy, but Lady who showed us that she also found the way out of the garden.
Because we’re borrowing part of the section of our neighbours uphill, we decided against raising a fence on their property. We just wanted to prevent our dogs from running away. We thought it might be better to heighten the chicken mesh. Again we drove to our home supplier of DIY materials - Mitre10 - and bought the required materials. After cutting the roll of chicken mesh in two to get 20 meter mesh of 45cm high, we immediately came into action to raise our private iron curtain. Many scratches later and relieved not to have used swear words anymore, it appeared time to have the ultimate test, the third and probably the last. Although we knew that an IWS can jump high, we supposed that 135cm high was enough to keep them inside the run. That was proven by the fence and the wire on top of it.
For at least 10 minutes our beasts stayed in their area. In the 11th minute Lady stood in front of us with a huge smile, mimicking Dennis the Menace: Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-da. Mrs. IWS had discovered that she was able to put her legs against the mesh, which bent due to her weight. Without any problem, Lady jumped over the mesh and walked out of the garden. Once more the ultimate test had failed.
We were stunned and for weeks we thought about having a fence built. But knowing the quotes we received before, we decided against it. But how do we keep our dogs inside their area? The New Zealand winter had passed already and the need to have Cassy and Lady separated due to Lady soon being in season was getting quite high.
Again the solution was easier than we’d thought. Walking once again through our favourite DIY-store, we noticed a screen of birch twigs. Why hadn’t we thought about that earlier!?! The screens were sold in different heights, were simple to be fixed to the mesh and flexible enough to follow the slope of the hill. To try it out, we bought two screens and if it worked out well, we could invest some more money. With two screens of three meter long and 1.50 meter high and heaps of cable ties, we went home energised to get the dog area IWS-proof. We finished in half an hour, double the time to keep Lady inside. We knew that 6 meters of screen wasn’t sufficient. The more inventive of the two Irish’s quickly found a new spot to jump over the fence. We knew it……
Again summer arrived in New Zealand, and finally we wanted to be able to work in the garden with all doors and windows open, and without the dogs chasing cats or visiting our neighbours. It was time to fix the last part of the chicken mesh with the screens. Once more back to the DIY store and pay with our credit card for another 6 screens.
Some hours later that Sunday, we finished our job. “No ultimate test today, we’ll do that tomorrow after work”, we said to each other.
Monday, 6pm arriving home: The garage door is opened and Guus takes the dogs to their area for the final ultimate test. While the dogs are sniffing around, Guus walks upstairs to get changed. He was half way up the stairs when he heard Cilia shouting: “Oh no….. How did you manage to get out again??” Our little shaking bum is standing in front of Cilia, laughing as if she’s saying: Did you really think you could lock me up?
Damn it! Ultimate test failed again. We just wondered: how many times can a test be called ultimate? And because Lady proved that there is an exit, we realised we didn’t do our job well enough. But the solution to keep the dogs in should be easy to solve.
Again we investigated the fence in order to determine how Lady managed to get out of the dog run. We found it soon after. The only part of the 1.35m fence without screen, was not properly fitted to the ground. On a tiny spot of 10 cm high and 50cm wide, showing brown fur, our inventive bitch manoeuvred herself under the mesh and found her way to freedom. This tiny escape spot didn’t last long because that same evening we closed the hole in the iron curtain – acting as experienced East German border guards.
After that, our dogs haven’t found a way to escape their day area. They apparently have resigned to the fact that they have to stay in their new area during the day.
Although we were sometimes annoyed by the inventiveness of our dogs, we don’t want any other breed. The ability of the Irish Water Spaniel to do things independently, to find out, experience and learn makes this breed so attractive.