We got a puppy and so it was time to close off the backyard. After some discussion we went with a design based upon farm gates.

Usually I take ages to work out something like this, but time was not on my side. The puppy was growing and exploring and this entrance to The Outside was getting more and more enticing. So this was a case, of ‘what do I need first?’ and just do it.

The fence is a little, ah wonky, so we needed some posts. 6”x6” and sunk into concrete tubes. This was also the time I noticed about a 6” difference in height between the two sides of the path. You can see the post on the right is taller than the one on the left.

After that, it was just a case of cutting the lengths of wood to fit the gap.

The first assembly was a little off, one side was a little higher than the other. It was only an inch, but looked a lot worse. Since I had only used a few screws it was easy to move and drill new holes.

From the back you can see how it was put together. I used a sander to round off the tops of some of the 2”x4”s. The cane bolt at the bottom slots into a metal tube bashed into the ground. And the chicken wire is needed until puppy is no longer a puppy. Right now she can go under and through, but that will change.

The big concern is what will happen in winter when the snows come. Is there enough ground clearance? Will the latches and bolts freeze? We’ll know in 5 months time :)