Examining the future kennel site
Sorry I haven’t posted anything for the last month. Long story short, the current setup with me living on Grand Island and driving down to visit Shila isn’t working out. Shila’s OK for now, but there are still a lot of unsolved problems. (I found a solution – see below.)
For example, where to walk Shila? The place we used to walk is overgrown now, and the nearby park is busy all the time in summer – it’s like every other day there’s a huge race. Also, we still don’t know if Shila’s current kennel will work out long term because she starts tearing down the walls if fox pups are moved into the adjacent kennels, even if her view of the pups is blocked. If the current kennel doesn’t work out, it’s not obvious where else she can go.
These aren’t even the only issues. I figured when we moved Shila back in November that things would calm down after a few months, but it’s now been more than six months and things still aren’t stable.
I now think the best option is “plan B,” which is for me to move back to Wisconsin, build kennels there, and adopt Shila. No more lengthy drives, I can walk Shila daily, and there are lots of deserted rural roads and infrequently used parks to walk at. I’ve already cleared this with Mech and Elise, and I’m hoping to be able to move Shila to Wisconsin in late July or early August.
I’m in Wisconsin right now. Looking at where the kennel will go, I think this can work out very nicely (see photos). There’s a 9'x17' concrete slab in a secluded but not isolated wooded area near the house where the previous owner of the house intended at some point to build a kennel. There’s plenty of unused space around the concrete slab, so in total there’s about a 26'x37' area to work with, with more space possible if we build out into the woods. It’s impossible to see the kennel from the road since we live at the bottom of a wooded hill. Mech walks the neighbors’ dogs and there’s also Barkley, so there’ll be other dogs around but Shila will have plenty of her own space, which is how I think she likes it.
A lot of people around here also have land in northern Wisconsin, and that might eventually be another option to think about.
I’ll try to post regular updates again. (This last month was rough – things got overwhelming.) I’m optimistic about the way things are headed now.
