The pen

In this picture of Mandy in her pen, you can see a red slanted roof on her hidey-hole.  There was a reason for that:  Mandy was very young when we started putting her in the pen at night; one time she got up on her flat room and pooped there.  My long-suffering husband took a piece of metal and slanted it at such an angle that Mandy couldn't get on top of her house and poop.  In fact, she never messed or peed in her pen after that.  
Cliff and the neighbor boys, Travis and Tyler, poured the concrete and constructed Mandy's pen.  

The twins signed their work.  Mandy's paw-print is there, too.
After Mandy was killed on the highway I immediately got Sadie, who was about a year old.  I did not intend to use the pen for her, but Cliff went into the hospital for heart surgery and I spent most of those four or five days with him.  So we put Sadie in the pen, and my daughter's family would come a couple times a day and take her out for her potty breaks; they'd also spend a little time throwing the frisbee for her, since she wasn't having much human contact for those few days.   
Once that ordeal was over, the pen has mostly been used as a place to park lawn mowers.  Of course it was home to those two ill-fated chickens for a couple of weeks.   
Enter Iris.  I found out she goes ballistic if her humans are gone.  I learned that this is pretty common for whippets.  

So yesterday, I removed the six-year-old hay bales that Mandy's house was built of, and I cleaned the concrete.  Today I put newer hay bales on the dry floor.   Cliff fixed a new fastener on the gate, because yesterday we put Iris in there for a quick trip to the store and when we got home, she was out playing with the neighbor boys.  All these years we used a tarp-strap to hold the gate closed; obviously that wouldn't work for our psycho dog with separation anxiety.  

I put a soft blanket in her hidey-hole, shut her in for a minute, and took this picture of her.  I'm sure she thinks she can make her escape again, but if she gets out next time we leave her there, I'll change her name to Houdini.  
Cliff's younger sister is letting me have a huge pet taxi they bought for a Lab, years ago.  So I'll probably be returning the cage I've been putting Iris in at night to Rena, next door.  

Besides, I think Iris might like an enclosed space; she sure spends a lot of time under my desk at my feet!