Marshall - the escape artist

[MiniMe]

I have a new foster who is trying to give me heart failure now. He is a 1 year old male, very sweet, and apparently has a bit of separation anxiety. He is an owner give-up due to a foreclosure. The crate I have from the rescue is a drop pin crate, with only 3 pins. So I have been reinforcing the crate's 4th corner with wire ties. It has worked fine for 6 years. So I get Marshall. He was recently neutered, and Gus was a little growly around him. Anyway, I went out to dinner last night, and I put Marshall in the crate. Came home, and my friend said "there is no dog in the crate." So I searched all around the house, no Marshall. Then I looked, and saw that the screen to the front window was ripped out. My heart just sank, I really thought I lost him, and I had no idea how long he had been gone. So I went out and started calling him, my neighbor came up and said that he was in her back yard. Whew, apparently somebody found him wondering around, and knew I fostered dogs, and my neighbor put him in her back yard. Mind you, I just got this dog yesterday.

He is fine as long as I am in the house with him, he was fine overnight. So I shut the windows downstairs, reinforced the corner of the crate more, and went to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy. I was only gone for 10 minutes because they weren't open yet, came back, and there is no dog in the crate, again. Augh. Went outside, and the upstairs screen was torn. So I went out with a leash, and found him about a block away. I called him and he came to me. Good boy. Got back to the house, and now I have to figure out how to go to the pharmacy again when it opened. So I called my friend up, and she came over to sit in front of the house so she could get him if he somehow escaped again, and put more reinforcing on the crate. So my friend came over, I put Marshall in the crate again, and went back to the pharmacy. When I came back, my friend was not in her car in front of my house, went into the house and there were no dogs at all in the house. Walked down the street to see if I could find anybody, and they came walking around the corner a leash short. So I asked my friend what had happened, she said that I was gone for 2 minutes, and he was out of the crate again. Then he was trying to open the window, so my friend decided to come in at that point (good decision). When she went to go into the house, all of them got out. So she grabbed some leashes and went after them. Gus and Eddie (my dogs) came back to her, but not Marshall. She had to corner him to get a leash on him. Augh again.

Get everybody in the house, and I looked at my prescriptions. They got one of them wrong, and I needed it that morning. Called the pharmacy and they told me to bring it back and they would replace it. So I have to leave the house again, what am I gonna do? Called my friend again, and borrowed a crate that is a fold-up crate. She brought it over, and sat in my house one more time. She was still there when I got back. When I went in the house, there was a dog in the crate, but he had pushed the pan out of the crate. I guess he was trying to dig out. So the crate holds him, and I have to figure out how to keep the pan in. In the end, my friend took one of the pins from the crate and went to Home Depot, she got something that would work the same way and it is in the crate. What a morning!

So tomorrow, I will leave him for a while and see if he is still around when I get back. He is a really good boy in general, he is housetrained, he only plays with things that I give him, and he has been good with my dogs. Poor boy has had a rough time. His family took him to the pound, a rescue took him and took him to the vet and had his boy bits cut off, then he came to my house with a dog who growls at him. Gus had stopped growling now, I think it was mostly because Marshall was recently neutered, Gus is an experienced foster brother. I really thinks Marshall wants to go look for his family. He is snoozing on the couch as I type this totally content and looking quite innocent, but I know better.

[david13]

1. Sure. He might want to look for the family. Give him time, play

with him, let him be what he wants to be, be a pack leader to him. And he will soon forget the old place.
Don't forget dog whisperers principles.
It takes time.
But he will be fine.
dc

[MiniMe]

2. I do realize all that, been fostering for over 6 years

It did freak me out a bit that he jumped out a second story window. He is a really good boy, and I really like him. Marshall and Gus actually played together this morning, a little cautiously, but that is OK while they are feeling each other out. The screens are fixable and I think he knows that he can't escape from the crate any more. I just wish I could open my windows, it is nice outside. But Marshall is a really good natured boy, happy all the time. Hopefully the hormones will settle down and he will be happy here, or he will never get adopted.

[CC]

3. Since he has been through so much

you might want to try Comfort Zone DAP for Dogs. Seems to work just as well as Feliway works for cats. Since you have been fostering for so long you know how to crate train and all so maybe this dog just needs this extra help.

[MiniMe]

4. I can laugh at this now, it wasn't Marshall's fault, it was the crate's fault

If I had a complete crate, I never would have realized. I really like Marshall, he is the most loving dog, and very good in the house. A family with a young dog is interested in meeting Marshall, and hopefully adopting him. He will need to be crated in the beginning, he could have gotten hurt on his adventures. Especially jumping out of a second story window after a recent neuter. He is settling down a bit not, and is actually pretty laid back for a 1 year old. I hope the meeting with his potential family goes well on Saturday. Marshall has a lot of love to give!

[Duppers]

5. how'd the meeting go? did they take Marshall?

I WISH I could take him but am not yet ready. I'm home ALL the time and he'd be perfect. Sigh...too many health problems.

:yourock: for all you do for your these homeless Labs.

[MiniMe]

6. Well, that family decided not to come meet Marshall

So we went to the adoption day which was the next day. Marshall rode up to the adoption day with a 9 year old female who had arthritis and was a very good passenger. I found a strong young man to hang onto Marshall for me and then ended up having to work at the table taking contracts, so I had no idea what was going on outside with Marshall. The next time I saw Marshall, I saw him coming back towards the adoption table with a couple of children and a Mom and Dad. There were 3 families who wanted to adopt Marshall, and the family who was home the most ended up adopting him. I told them all of the tales of Marshall's adventures, and they told me that somebody was home almost 24/7. The kids were hanging off of Marshall's neck with the most loving smiles on their faces, and Marshall was just loving it.

The family was pretty young, they had 3 kids, I think the youngest was 5 or 6, and they had recently lost their lab. They were all absolutely in love with Marshall, and Marshall was supplying lots of kisses. They were willing to work with Marshall, and knew about what had happened to him with losing his home, I just wasn't sure if they understood how determined he was. They adopted him, and took him home. Took him for a long walk. The next morning, the dad took Marshall into the kids rooms and he woke them up with big kisses. They were all thrilled. Then he was out in their back yard a little later, and he cleared their fence. It was only a 4 foot fence, and I had told them that I doubted it would hold him back. He went about 3 yards away and then came right back to them when they called. They have been opening the windows only from the top, so that has been fine, but the one time they opened them from the bottom, he pushed it open and went out through the screen. Their only comment was he lost that privilege and the windows are only open from the top again. Their last dog had had some of the same problems when he was young, and they feel confident that once Marshall realizes he is staying, he will calm down. I really hope he does. This family really loves Marshall, and they are willing to put up with his faults. He has found a wonderful family if he just calms down. I do think that once his hormones settle down it will help a lot, so keep your fingers crossed for this wonderful dog.

[Why Syzygy]

7. The adventures of Marshall

:D I hope all dogs can be so fortunate to find a loving home.

Is he a Lab?

[MiniMe]

8. Yes, a gorgeous 1 year old

Sorry, I thought I posted pics.

[Duppers]

9. Fingers (and toes) are crossed.

What a wonderful family...and touching story. Thank you again.