Eistein vs. garage door

I've often said that Einstein doesn't care where he's going as long as he gets there fast. Well, that desire almost got him crushed yesterday.

My husband was working over at the new house, removing five layers of contact paper from the kitchen shelves. He was a using a solvent with a potent orange smell, so he brought the shelves into the garage to work with the door open.

At some point in the lifetime of the garage, the motor on the door opener was jury-rigged so it comes down fast and hard. There is no sensor that makes it go back up if something runs underneath it or it encounters tension (like if a dog gets caught underneath it) on the way down. Needless to say, it was marked "defective" on our home inspection.

Einstein, not wanting to be apart from Adam, pitched a fit at being locked out of the garage. So Adam closed the garage door and opened the door that is attached to the house for Einstein to come in and join him.

Well, the garage door wasn't all the way down when Adam opened the door from the garage to the house and Einstein bolted for the tiny opening at the bottom. Adam described it as an Indiana Jones-like moment as Einstein slid under the door at the last possible minute before getting crushed, although he did get bumped on the butt. One moment sooner and he'd have been rushed to the vet.

Adam rushed back outside, where Einstein was running back and forth in the driveway. Adam called out "treat" and Einstein, always motivated by food, came running back to the house.

Everything turned out alright, but I'm glad my in-laws' housewarming present to us is a new garage door, complete with safety sensors and a new motor. It should arrive in two weeks. Although I did remind Adam that he still needs to be careful because if the door had gone back up as Einstein ran under it, then he would have had three dogs to catch and get back into the house instead of just one.