Baby gates, or Basenji: 1, Human: 0

[Andrew]

We have two baby gates in our house, one to block off the laundry room where the cat litter boxes are, and one to block off the master bathroom, which contains dirty underwear, bathroom trash & cat food, the 3 most basenji-coveted items in our household. We got these when Booger was a puppy, and he has never tried to get past the gates.
Lola is used to the gates where they are… I think she just sees them as walls & since she has never been on the other side, she doesn't try to get on the other side.
This weekend I dog sat for a friend, and his first night here, I moved a baby gate & blocked my dogs in the bedroom so I could feed my friend's dog in the living room without fights. I turn around & there is Lola, right behind me! I picked her up, told her no & put her back in my bedroom. I turned around & walked back down the hall, and there she goes, passing me & running to the food. I pick her up, tell her no & put her back in my bedroom. Halfway down the hall, I turn around & watch her jump over the gate. I started towards her, but by this time she had gotten smart. She turned around & jumped back over the gate into my bedroom!! Everybody was too excited, so I put the food away & put everybody to bed.
Yesterday we went to the park & since its been raining for several days straight, the dogs got very dirty. I blocked off my bedroom so they couldn't get on my clean bed. I went to take a shower & when I returned, Booger was curled up with Andrew, but Lola wasn't in sight. I glanced around, and realized where she was. I walked to the master bathroom & found her licking the cat bowls clean. I said her full name, and she started slinking past me, acting, I swear, like she was invisible & I wouldn't notice. I just had to laugh.
Same thing today: went to the park, dirty dogs, blocked off the bedroom (I am a slow learner!!!) And within seconds, Lola was over the gate & on my bed!!! She completely ignores the gates where they are now, but if I move the gate to block off a room she normally has free access to, she jumps right over!! I guess I can't complain as she still respects the boundaries she's grown up with, and its actually a funny "battle" we have going. I don't even think she realizes she's not supposed to be in the bedroom... the gates are just an annoying obstacle in her way.

[agilebasenji]

Sounds like you may have an agility basenji in the making. Congrats!

[rnasto]

Ya seems like she thinks its a play thing. Don't you just love that. We had several renditions of the TiVo Jail before it worked. You see TiVo was very very bad it was just too tastey for little basenji boys so it had to be locked up. Very dangerous those TiVo's. We ended up locking the gates in place with a huge butchers block. Not the same but ya good luck

[BasenjiByTheBay]

If I remember correctly from yesterday, that makes it Basenji 2, Human 1;)

[Andrew]

@BasenjiByTheBay:

If I remember correctly from yesterday, that makes it Basenji 2, Human 1;)

Well, technically I'm calling it even between Booger & I, since I tricked him with the harness the next day. Lola has a separate count. She is currently 1 up, but I hold no grudges with her. She's just too darn cute.

[YodelDogs]

I use the regular baby gates, purchased from K-Mart I think, but they are the extra tall ones. To make it harder for dogs to get over, I make sure the horizontal bar is on the side opposite the side the dogs are on. The cats can easily get over the gate. The dogs could get over the gate too but I don't leave them loose unsupervised and I can "annnkkk!" them if they try.

There are gates made that have vertical bars that are much harder for dogs to get over. I might consider these for your hard to contain Lola.

[examples](http://pet-supplies.drsfostersmith.com/search?p=Q&lbc=drsfostersmith&uid=833625112&w=gate⁡=cat1:dogs type:product&isort=score&method=and&ts=results)

Good luck!

[Andrew]

Thanks for the leads… I've started researching agility. I think she would LOVE that. And the great thing is, fortunately, she still has not tried to jump a gate that is in its "normal" position. I don't think its even crossed her mind. Even now, she knows there is cat food & yummies in the master bath/closet area. If the gate is moved to the bedroom, she'll get over it & into the master area. But if I leave the gate where it "belongs", she ignores it. So I guess I'll just be grateful she is still respecting the gates in their normal positions, and try to keep a close eye on her when I move them.
Hopefully I won't have to start investing in different types of gates.

[vmkichura]

Mine (which we believe is 1/2 B & 1/2 whatever) climbed over the baby gate! We had to put a crate box over the gate so she couldn't climb.

[Natalplum]

My husband just put the gate back up at the bottom of the stairs to the upstairs. We went without it for about a month because my teenage daughter was running down the steps at mach 10 and ripped it off the hinges. It has been a complete nightmare without it. It's funny to see Mick, our B try to fit through the rungs of the railing. His shoulders are so broad he can't fit anymore. That's what happens when puppies grow up

[sharronhurlbut]

Thankfully, my 2 are good behind the babygates, but we only use them when we have dinner company or small kids over.

[basenjikayah]

Kayah was climbing the baby gates after a week. She was 10 weeks old at the time. She does have the run of the house when we are home however we just keep the doors shut of the rooms we don't want her going into unsupervised. We try to keep anything picked up off of the floor in our bedrooms that we don't want her getting at. We do have a crate but she's only in it when we aren't home or if I'm trying to do something that I don't want her getting into. It's funny to watch them climb those baby gates. I'm sure they would have no problem scaling a chain link fence either.

[Woofless]

I bought the "tall" baby gate (wire mesh, wood frame) as well…..

Tana clears it with room to spare.....I swear she is made of springs and rubber.....so I just bought another one and put it above that one, effectively sealing off the doorway.

That kept her in, until I thought I might try leaving her beind the gate while I went out for a few hours. She is a mill rescue, HATES her crate & occasionally has a tinkle when I leave her alone....so I thought, "Hm, maybe a baby gate". AND I thought I'd be smart, cover my bases, and spray the thing down with Bitter Apple.

No dice. Unfortunately since they design the gates primarily for babies and use that basis to decide which "wire" to use, they aren't allowing for the possibility that an infant human will attempt to chew through the wire.

When I came home 4 hours later there was a Tana on my couch watching Harry Potter, and a Tana-sized hole chewed through the wire on the baby gate. Evidently Bitter Apple doesn't sway her one bit. At least she didn't tinkle the floor though

[Lovelace]

So far my gate is still working. We don't ever step over the top though, I'm hoping Moses doesn't try to go over the top if he doesn't see us do it? He does try and throw his weight at the area thats latched to break thru Lets hope he does figure it out, he's still just a puppy.