Wait, catch me up is Libby a chicken, goat, or teenager?
Yup, my brother and his fiancé’s dog. One of two.
Ohhhhh. My dogs wander all over. Well one goes and visits across the road while the other won’t leave past the chicken coop.
We used to have roaming dogs too but with our last one we tried to keep him contained, and I think they are really worried about her getting hurt or something plus they like to let them out without having to watch them the whole time and they can’t do that now since she escapes. Although now today she escaped twice right in front of us (once when I let them out this afternoon and once when she got home) which she has never done before, normally she waits until no humans are watching. They do have a physical fence but it is really low in one spot and even in the high spots, she digs, she jumps, she climbs, she does everything. She never did until the past few weeks and now all of a sudden she has escaped like 5 times.
Our first dog* my dad used to just basically open the door and let him roam because we didn’t have a fenced yard so he got loose anyway (he would stop and look at you, right in the eyes, then keep on going when you called him lol) and he was so high energy, a yellow Lab. All the neighbors loved him, well, most, and fed him. One neighbor didn’t really like him or dogs in general (though looking back, I don’t blame him, we shouldn’t have had him running loose, and they had little kids scared of him even though he was friendly) and did tie him up on a short rope in his yard one time but most people loved him. He even went across the street to the apartments regularly which was dangerous because he had to cross a really busy road (our house is set back in the woods so there is a quiet street behind it, our neighbors, and behind that quiet street, is the busy road, and he did get hit by a car one time and our friend’s son ran out to help him so then after that we kept him contained because that’s dangerous. He lived for about 2 more years after that. Then our last dog, who we just put down in December, got loose and roamed a few times, but after that we tried to keep him contained. We got long ropes and would let him out on those when outside. We thought a few times he was trained after a while but then he would roam again so we would put him back on the ropes. He was a lot bigger, a 140-150 pound black Lab/Great Pyrenees mix, and almost all black except for a big white patch on his chest, so he scared people so we kept him contained. But I think we would have anyway even if he was smaller because we learned after the last one got hit by a car. I think if we ever get another dog though, we are going to fence in the yard. Or at least part of it.
Their neighborhood is pretty quiet, although maybe slightly busier than ours, and they walk her a lot so she could find her way home (although she actually doesn’t even roam, she just escapes and then comes right back to the door, it is really weird), but I think they still worry about her. And in the summer, the boat ramp down the street is insanely busy so she could get hurt.
I think their main concern is she deosn’t have a good recall so while right now she mostly chooses to come back on her own, she might some day not. Even tonight the second time she escaped she was gone for an hour. The first time when I was there, she just ran around a bit, pottied out on the marsh, and then ran right back to me and jumped back into the yard on her own.
*Well, first I really remember/grew up with. We did have a Golden before him I barely remember but I’m not sure how they kept him.