You can only hope to contain Milo

Milo, our mastiff has a little separation issue.  He’s started breaking through the gates when we attempted to isolate him while we are away.  We recently started seeing  him staring at us through the front window when we got home and to top it off, to show us he wasn’t happy about being locked behind some gates in the basement, he’d inevitably pee somewhere.   I figured I’d show him – He’s never been crated and to find something his size is virtually impossible, so I opted for an outdoor kennel .  I put it together on Sunday and put it in the corner of the basement. The footprint was only 4 x 4, but had over five foot walls. I assumed with a couple of blankets, he’d be very comfortable.   Day one –  got home and he had drug it around the basement with him – he even somehow got an old cowboy hat off of the wall and chewed on that a bit but no pee.  Day 2 – figured I’d put a big trunk in front of it to barricade it in the corner  – got home – pushed the trunk out of the way, with what appeared to be ease,  and drug the kennel around the basement once again – When my wife got home she looked down to see him  standing right at the bottom of the stairs, still in the kennel, tail wagging, staring up at her – Day three – Kennel destroyed.  I won’t bore you with the details, but after several calls to the management of Menards, the Manufacturers rep, as well as the sales rep.  Apparently there is no warranty for this product.  I asked that we discussed the very definition of a kennel – to keep an animal, despite its efforts, contained and safe while the owner is away.  I went with the approach that I would have understood and would not have been back attempting to return it if it only lasted even a month, but three days seemed a little short for me to just write off as all my fault.   They eventually agreed that, “this one time only” they will allow me to bring it back and refund my money.   One funny thing the sales rep did say – “You may want to consider whether you are buying the correct product to contain your mastiff when the box you are buying has a picture of a Jack Russell Terrier on it”.