I have a new little foster dog staying with me. The manager of my shelter called me last week and wanted to know if I would give her my opinion; she had been returned to the shelter twice and the manager was puzzled, because she seemed great!
Long story short, I think she is great. I think the two failed placements were not the right fit for her, that’s all. And I like her so much, I have a home in mind for her. But the family I’m thinking of will have to leave her home alone for chunks of time, and because I was working around the clock all last week, I haven’t yet had a chance to see how she does when left alone for more than 20 minutes at a time.
I shipped the April issue to the printer on Monday morning and decided that the little dog’s “home alone” tests would start that day. I left the dog in my detached little office building by herself, with a frozen Kong toy that was stuffed with canned food and her dry food scattered around on the floor of the office. I went into the house to eat breakfast, take a shower, and answer some emails. From the house, I would be able to hear if she started barking or causing a fuss.
About an hour later, I came back out to the office. As I approached the door I could see her through the glass door, sitting calmly – good job, little dog! I went to open the door and – hey, why won’t the door open? It seemed to be jammed, somehow!
I cupped my hands to the glass and looked more closely through the window. Oh crap! When I left the office, there had been a folding, soft crate leaned up against a file cabinet, across from the door, and it had fallen toward the door – been pushed over, more likely, by a dog pushing a food-stuffed Kong around the office. Unfortunately, now it was lying flat on the ground between the door and the file cabinet, where it fit perfect to very effectively block the door from opening. Ay yi yi! What a fix we were in! There are three little windows in my office, and all of them are locked. Breaking a window was the only alternative to solving this puzzle to open the door.
Fortunately, the door could open about a quarter of an inch. It took me about a half-hour to find something on my property that I could use to slip through the tiny slit between the door and the frame, hook onto some part of the folding crate, and pull the crate up. It had to be very slender, at least a couple feet long, flexible enough to bend around the door, and strong enough to lift the large crate. A wire coat hanger was not strong enough, nothing plastic was skinny or flexible enough. I kept walking around the properly, looking for something.
Ultimately, I used bolt cutters to cut up a round wire tomato cage, the bottom loop of which met all the requirements: strong, slender, long, and flexible. Then I sat in front of the door, fishing with my wire, trying to catch a strap on the crate. The little dog sat on the flattened crate on the other side of the door, watching me and the movement of the wire intently.
Finally I hooked a strap! I had to bang on the door – “Back! Get back!” – to get the dog to get off the crate, so I could lift the end of the crate enough to push open the door and free the little dog. Hurray! I spent only an hour trying to free her from her hour-long isolation test.
I’ll try again tomorrow, but you can bet that I’ll dog-proof the office a little more thoroughly this time.
My God, what a story! Yes, it looks like a ‘podenco’. They are of Spanish origin, like me, although they are not very common in the country.
A few years back, one of our greyhounds locked us out of the house. Somehow he managed to flip the lock on the storm door and stood there looking out through the glass door, happily wagging his tail. We ended up pretty much ruining the door handle to get back in the house. His name was Easy, but after that day, he was affectionately known as “Problem Child”.
She looks a bigger version of my dog he needs a lot o exercise. I hope you have more luck next time
I was also thinking she looks like some Pharaoh dog in her.
Just love your stories. Your writing is so good, I am always right there with you! Thank you for all you do for so many dogs (and people)!
Jan from Folsom
Very clever solution – good for you. Thanks for posting this great story. Best wishes.
Love these stories.!
Very cute dog. Love the ears. Ramses had ears like that.
As I recall one of them, Caesar, Ramses or maybe even Diana pawPrints as a puppy, was so enthusiastic to go for a car ride they locked themselves in the car. Put them in, put stuff in the back seat and before I could open the driver’s door back up they were standing on the door standing on the lock. Must have been Caesar as I had a different car then. and I couldn’t get the door unlocked as he kept standing back on the lock. Eventually I got him to move and unlocked the car again. Lucky me I had the keys as I had already locked the house with the second set of keys inside.
Thank you for sharing this story–funny now, but probably not at the moment! My husband and I have fostered scores of dogs, puppies, and kittens over the past 12 years and it is inevitable that some unexpected things happen–like the time kittens unwound a roll of toilet paper all over the bathroom floor! Good thinking with the tomato cage wire, and what a patient pup your foster is!