Jadha and Mahal's days of breaking out and running riot on Northbourne Avenue are numbered now ActewAGL has promised to repair a fence that their master, David Creech, says was damaged during pole replacement work.
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A company spokeswoman said ActewAGL rejects Mr Creech's claim but will reinstate the missing panel of his back fence ''as a gesture of goodwill''.
Mr Creech, who lives with his wife and the two adventurous dogs in a Lowrie Street, Dickson, house that backs onto the tourist information centre and apartment blocks, found the gap after Jadha, a ''bitzer'' terrier and Mahal, a pug cross, began going walkabout.
''I hadn't seen the gap before because the fence is very close to the back wall of my new shed,'' he said.
The discovery also cleared up another mystery - how the shed had suddenly been adopted as a squat by strangers who appeared and disappeared by unknown means at night.
Tools and small items had been taken and the couple frequently woke to find the shed floor covered with broken bottles and drink containers.
''It did get to the stage where we were worried about going into the backyard at night - you didn't know what you might stumble across,'' Mr Creech said. Given the missing section of fence is less than a metre from the new PVC power pole installed on ActewAGL's behalf by contractors on November 14, Mr Creech jumped to the conclusion the damage was ''cause and effect''.
The power supplier does not accept either his logic or the possibility it may be to blame.
''ActewAGL can confirm that the missing portion of fence is not a result of works conducted by ActewAGL crews or contractors,'' the spokeswoman said.
''ActewAGL has advised the customer that we will arrange a crew to fix the hole in the fence as a gesture of goodwill.''
The spokeswoman did confirm that an ActewAGL contractor had attended the property on December 13, a month after the original work, to remove the old pole base.
''On both occasions a portion of the fence was disassembled to allow access to the pole,'' she said.
''The fence was reinstated to its original condition at the end of the works.''
Mr Creech, a former newspaper photographer who now runs his own business, noticed the dogs were getting out in late December and early January and, on discovering the gap behind the shed, contacted ActewAGL on January 15. A customer service liaison officer visited on January 18. The fence had not been repaired by Monday afternoon.
