# Help! Carley is a monkey, a chewer, a piggie



## puppydoll (Jul 11, 2013)

Help! :smhelp:The first week we had Carley, she climbed out of her Iris pen while I was out of the room. I said no more to that and ordered the mesh top that is secured on with nylon velcro straps. I had to wait until it was delivered to use the pen while out of the room.

Guess who can undo Velcro straps and get out?! :blink: My little monkey, that is who. So I said to myself, I can outsmart this little two pound gorilla! :thumbsup: I will place heavy (but not too heavy since it is a mesh top) towels, etc... on all four corners. Well, she chewed the straps again so I put my flashing lights on olice:and went to Petco to get some Bitter Apple. When I returned home, I was spraying the nylon straps down which are not very absorbent and who walks by to taste the delicious bitter fruit? Carley the piggie, of course.... Her face made an awful look :yucky:and I started smiling:biggrin:...I have this in the bag, I thought. Then she walks around to each of the straps I sprayed and tries to lick that which dripped on her mat. Grrrr....

So now I have a two-pound gorilla, who is a chewer and pig who likes Bitter Apple drippings.:smpullhair:
I didn't attach the straps back last night as they were drying. Carley sleeps in a crate next to my bed so we didn't need the pen except to use as a potty station.

This morning, I need to leave the room so I put her in the pen to pee. It was time! She barks like crazy.... the usual reaction to having the pen closed. And when I come back into the room, I see my precious little gorilla poking her head and front paws out from under the heavy towels on the top corner of the pen. :behindsofa: She was almost out! (She almost looked like Owen because her little tongue was showing...a tiny bit of panting. So if I want my own cute "Owen" photos, run the puppy around the house to get the tongue hanging out from panting.) :chili: Love Owen:wub:

QUESTIONS: How to keep the little monkey in her pen? Is there a better top for the Iris pen? Is there a better product than Bitter Apple? (Her food, crate, some toys and two pee pads are in there.)

BRAGGING MOMENT: My sweet precious little fluff Carleyness :wub::innocentno longer a monkey, gorilla, chewer or pig, lol) peed at 11 pm and didn't wake until 7:05 am, not even waking when I got up to go to the restroom at 2:30!!! (Of course, I got out of bed as quietly as possible and even went to the restroom in the other part of the house so I wouldn't wake her) The things we do...

Funny thing is, I held Carley last time and had a long talk. I told her that I reaaaallllly needed to get a good night's sleep and that I understood if she needed to pee in the night but if she could hold it, please hold it! The things we say....


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## mdbflorida (Feb 28, 2013)

OMG I am sorry but I can't stop laughing. She is a smart one.


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

:HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley:What a wonderful character.


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## maltese manica (Nov 6, 2012)

OMD! That is just the best laugh I had all day! LOL


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## Cyndilou (Jan 24, 2013)

I was like that too before Ace started sleeping through the night. Once I was on the potty tee teeing and holding him at the same time. Then it hit me this is what I did when my kids were newborns.


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## Furbabies mom (Jul 25, 2011)

Carly sounds like my Yorkie Hardy? He can get out of everything, and let's the other three escape as well. I have a giant pack of zip ties from Sears Hardware. I use them for anything with zippers or to keep things closed.


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## Shenno (Oct 1, 2013)

This is so funny, it brings back so many memories of Nicky. When he was a puppy and I had to leave I would block him with a gate in the kitchen. That silly dog would climb out and this wasn't some two foot gate. I doubled it and he still attempted to climb out I was afraid he was going to hurt himself. It didn't take me long to realize that he preferred to be in his Kennel where he spent the night when I left, I guess he felt safer. If things are crazy and home, the normal routine is upset, that is where he goes.


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## lynda (Oct 11, 2005)

Oh my gosh, she is not only breathtakingly cute she is a little monster too. I too had an Iris Pen and the 1st time we left our Chloe alone we were only gone for an hour. We went to church and when we came home the little darling met us at the door. I all but had a heart attack. I found that I could not keep her in the Iris pen cause she could easily climb out of it and my biggest fear was that she might fall. I would be cautious putting a top on it with velcro. You don't want her to get her little head/neck stuck between the pen and the top and choke. I find that the all mesh puppy pens are a much safer pen. Only once did I have a problem with the mesh ones and that was my fault. My sweet little Gigi was just a puppy and I put her in the mesh pen with her food dishes, pee pads and her crate. Well, the little dickens climbed on her crate and was half way out the play pen when I caught her. I quickly took her crate out of there and just gave her a dog bed for her sleeping. 

They really are little people in dog fur:HistericalSmiley:


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## maltese#1fan (Feb 20, 2012)

I couldn't help but laugh at your description of your little monkey's antics. They really are good at escaping. My first maltese Heidi was able to climb over a lattice fence. I couldn't figure out how she was getting to the other side until I actually caught her in the act of climbing the fence.


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## Shenno (Oct 1, 2013)

Oh, one more thing. I had to try several different brands of "bitter apple type of products" before I found the one. The one I ended up with was actually called "bitter apple" I believe. All Nicky had to do was smell it, and he left the item alone.


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Lol...this reminds me of Lacie...we used to call her gorilla too. She wld climb up the side of the pen and hang upside down. Then I got a crate but the top cld be left open and when I was showering one morning I cld feel 2 big eyes staring at me...yup it was her...out of the crate, happy happy! The only thing that worked so Houdini didn't get out was the crate locked, top locked. Bitter sweet apple...my 1st malt LOVED it...in fact I swear it triggered him to chew more so that was put to an end FAST! Gd luck...they are much smarter than I ever was!


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## Grace'sMom (Feb 22, 2012)

I second Deb's suggestion: Zip ties.

They are great.... and you can pull them tight and clip the tails so there is new chew room...


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## hoaloha (Jan 27, 2012)

LOL!!!! " two-pound gorilla, who is a chewer and pig who likes Bitter Apple drippings." OMG, little Carley is SUCH a character! you just have to love her spunk! i was totally smiling imaging her little tongue out like Owen while almost escaping the pen! try the zipties or a pop-up pen with zippered cover? She sounds like she's settled right in :wub: :wub: she is beautiful AND spunky!


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## mysugarbears (Aug 13, 2007)

Your little Carley sounds like my Noelle, she climbed out the Iris pen, i had gotten her a pen that you can fold up with a mesh zipper top and she chewed her way out, if you put her in a crate she undoes the lock. The only thing i have found that works to contain Houdini is something similar to this gate. Richell 3-in-1 Convertible Elite Pet Gate & Pen, 6-Panel You can make into a pen and get an optional top, the thing with it is that the horizontal bars aren't spaced together and that's what Noelle used to climb, the one i have is different brand, Noelle will undo the lock on the bottom part of the door, but because it's so heavy and the top part of the door is still locked she can't open the door and get out.


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## socalyte (Nov 15, 2010)

I don't have any suggestions, but I sure did laugh at Carley's antics. What a cutie she is!


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## sherry (Jan 4, 2013)

:HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley: Oh that Carly Rose!! You've got your hands full with that one!


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## Leila'sMommy (Oct 20, 2012)

Sounds like you've got a smart one in your hands, lol. That's too cute! Maybe try mixing some Cheyenne pepper in Vaseline and spreading it where you don't want chewed. 


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## luvsmalts (Oct 21, 2008)

Ha,ha, little stinker!


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## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

Too funny. I don't have a solution for you. But just wanted to say I love her personality. 


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## puppydoll (Jul 11, 2013)

Are you smarter than a 5th grader? 

_Correction:_ *Are you smarter than a 2.6 lb maltese puppy?! *

Carley got her second set of shots (Parvo and Distemper) yesterday and weighed in at *2.6 lbs.* I suppose I feel a little better that it's a *2.6 lb*. maltese puppy that is giving me a run for my money! That is *not* like a *2.2 lb*. puppy for sure! :thumbsup:

Well, the roof has come off the iris pen. The thought of choking made me choke of worry!!:w00t: Now the iris pen is being used as a partition gate between the kitchen and family room. 

The mesh roof top will be used to round up the whipper snapper when she runs from me!!!:biggrin::yes: I am from Texas and will use that to my advantage. Sing with me: "Roll em roll em roll em, see those doggies roll em, roll em roll em roll em, rawhide." I don't want my money to go to waste.:no2::no2:

I am so glad Carley could provide a moment of laughter!! She is definitely a piece of work filled with spunk! Earlier today, she got scolded. She ran to her little black bed, dug her head halfway in....she had to be able to peek out at me to find out how upset I really was. That is her way to say, is that pose cute enough to make you unupset?! Absolutely but don't tell her that!! But you have got to love the little Carley.:wub::wub::wub: She is a maltese puppy, she is ice cream 365 days of the year, because in Texas you can eat ice cream anytime!!!:yahoo::clap::woohoo2::sHa_banana:


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## dognut (Jun 27, 2013)

Jane, Carley sounds like a really smart little Little fluff. I'm glad she is able to bring you as much joy as she does trouble. She reminds me of my Kaotang who eats and chews nearly anything in her path too (well, thank god she doesn't chew the wooden furniture in our house). At least your baby shows some reaction when you discipline her. KT simply pretends not to hear me. Hahahhaha. Our babies are really giving us a run for our money! 

As for escaping, I don't think it's just the outside that appeals to her. I think it's the challenge of getting out itself that, for lack of a better word, gets Carley off. She's a smart little thing and she might be bored. And this challenge keeps her engaged when you are away. Do you have any puzzle/interactive toys that you can leave in the gate when you are out ? That might help. 

I haven't had any problem gating KT. I use something a little different. It's a metal pen and its pretty climb-proof. Maybe you can find something like this where you live. I got this in Thailand for about equivalent to 25 USD. But I remember it's imported from Taiwan so maybe you can find something like it too. Mine is an 8 panel pen but if you want a smaller gated area you can just use 4 panels. This is just an idea to help you.

I hope you find a solution to contain the little escape artist soon!


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

I have a climber too *coughemmacough* and I have to keep her in an enclosed puppy pen like this one Midwest Puppy Playpen w/ 1/2" Grid - Dog.com It's for her own safety. I use it without the floor grate though for her. But this is one thing she cannot get out of (except if I forget and only latch ONE of the locks, then she shoves her way through)


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## LovelyLily (Mar 26, 2013)

*what a cutie!*

Your post had me laughing! What a cutie. 

Back in March I got the smaller height x-pen for my puppy before I got her, and then quickly ordered the taller size one also because I was afraid she would be a climber who could get out of the smaller one. She is now nine months old and fortunately is still not a climber... still stays securely in the shorter height one without a problem. (She is a chewer but not a climber.)

I use the other one as a backup for when I want a separate one set up in another room, but must say I like the width and setup options of the shorter size one better (the taller one has narrower dimensions and doesn't work as well with the contortions I need for where I put them). 

The taller one would probably not be good for you--she could climb higher and definitely get hurt if she falls.

Keep us posted on how things work out.

Linda


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