DON'T FENCE ME IN

I like mysteries as well as anyone, but we have one here that is a bit unsettling. Friday evening Mandy asked to go outside. Spouse let her out, then we proceeded to have our meal and watch a little TV. After a few minutes we heard Mandy barking an alarm, which isn't unusual. She alerts us if other dogs are passing by, if there's a car or truck out front that she doesn't recognize, or if someone approaches the yard. That particular bark was a little different as it sounded as if Mandy was at the side of the house instead of in the backyard. We knew that wasn't possible since the yard is enclosed by a four-foot fence and she's never even attempted to jump over it. We have two gates which are always closed tightly so we knew she could not get out unless she crawled under the fence.

We should know to never assume anything. Spouse went to check on Mandy and she was indeed out of the yard. He checked to see if she had dug under the fence and found no evidence of it, but he did notice the open gate in the back part of the yard. We rarely use that gate and it has a latch that's difficult to open so we know it didn't open by itself and the wind could not have pushed it open. The mystery is, who opened it and why? We don't suspect the neighbors on either side of us. One neighbor has two dogs himself and would never let ours out of her yard. The other neighbors are a very nice couple who keep to themselves. They would never even approach our gate. So who opened it?

What's unsettling is we have no idea who opened our gate, whether he/she walked into the yard, or if the person was checking to see if the cabin was locked - it was. I was here the whole day and know for a fact the gate was not open at 6pm, so it had to have been opened between 6:00 and 7:00pm. We don't know if the person who opened it did so in order to release the dog, or if it happened before Spouse let her outside.

Personally, I wonder if this is related to another incident that happened a couple weeks ago. Spouse and I were awakened in the middle of the night by the noise of our garage door opening. The openers are always kept in our vehicles but we do have a key pad opener on the outside of the door. No one knows the password except Spouse and I, or are we the only ones who know? So...we now make sure the power is turned off every night and I often lock the door that leads from the garage to the house. How did the door open and did someone do it purposely, or was it just a fluke? Spouse and Mandy searched the garage and found no one in there and nothing disturbed. How strange. These are two mysteries I'd love to solve. I used to feel so safe in this neighborhood but now I'm thinking we should be more aware of what's going on around us.