A sweet dog named Potate, or Tate for short, had a rough start to life. She was living on the street, fending for herself and trying to survive. But then, she got picked up by an animal shelter. And from there, her life changed for the better. She was soon adopted by a dog lover named Hailee Graham and her husband. Tate loved her new forever home!When Tate went into her new backyard, she found another surprise waiting for her: her owners’ neighbors also had a dog, Vernon, who was around the same age as Tate. Even though there was a tall fence between the dogs, they still registered each other’s presence. And to Graham’s surprise, Tate seemed desperate to get to Vernon.
“I walk outside and catch them digging a tunnel to each other. We couldn’t get them to stop,” Graham told The Dodo. “We couldn’t keep them apart. They would just keep digging holes to each other.” The two dogs clearly wanted to hang out together, and Graham and her neighbors didn’t want to keep them apart. At first, they just planned some play dates. But Graham knew that wouldn’t satisfy Tate—she wanted to spend more time with her BFF. And then, Graham was struck by a brilliant idea.
“I thought, ‘Why not just put a door in the fence, so they can play whenever, and their hoomans don’t have to get involved?’” Graham said. Graham’s husband and her neighbors all loved the idea, and so over one weekend, the two sets of neighbors worked on installing the new doggy door. Graham, her husband, and her dad all worked together to cut a hole in the fence. Then, they installed a doggy door with a clear flap. As her owners worked on the doggy door, Tate watched excitedly. She seemed to know the doggy door would lead to Vernon!
Finally, the door was done. Tate excitedly ran through it and sprinted over to Vernon. The two pups started playing together immediately!
Graham was excited that her idea worked, and she also loved seeing how happy Tate was. Now, Tate and Vernon can play together as much as they like, without having to work around their humans’ schedules.
