Dog Tale

I’ve mentioned before that our dog is a bit of an escape artist. Her name is Athena but she is known to us as Houndini because nothing can hold her. There has not been a kennel built that can hold her. I think she might be the reincarnation of a WWII airman from Stalag 3 because she will tunnel out of anything, or climb over it (even an 8 foot tall fence) or collapse her rib cage into a flat package & squeeze through a 4 inch wide gap.

I’m not merely imagining this either. Her kennel is clearly visible from my desk and over the summer I watched her numerous escape attempts, marveling at the ingenuity she showed in moving pavers so heavy I can’t lift them easily, at the agility she showed in wedging herself between the door & the frame of the kennel and at the speed with which she can, in 3 movements climb the kennel wall. It is astounding & I wish I had been able to find out Flip video to get it recorded.

I tried keeping her in the house but she is too big to run loose in the house alone, especially with 3 cats also in the house. While she does come in after supper and lays around the living room & sleeps in her crate overnight just fine, she freaks out if we leave the house while she is in the crate and has damaged it trying to escape. She is an outdoor dog. She is a hound & she is unhappy if kept in the house away from all the wonderful scents for too long.She’d fling herself against the door constantly to go out. She does stay on her lead if people are outside with her but I can’t spend all day out there watching her. Otherwise she pulls out of the harness or collar. She’s worked out how to use her back paws to push it off. Either that or she has opposable thumbs and can reach in the middle of her back to unhook it.

We got her from the shelter & I suspect the reason her former owners couldn’t keep her was that they literally could. not. keep. her.

We have tried every make & model of dog collar and harness out there except the really pointy choke ones. She gets out of all of them. We tried a training class but unless we are out with her all the time it’s not that effective. Invisible fencing doesn’t phase her. We have spent 6 months and hundreds of dollars trying to keep her in the yard.

We just can’t.

We live in the country. There isn’t much traffic. There are working farms on all 4 sides of us. Many dogs just roam around here. We see them in our yard from time to time. Athena has had all her shots, has a very gentle disposition & is submissive to everyone, including the cats. She doesn’t even bother the trash cans on garbage day. So we decided to just accept that this is what she does. It’s not like we really had a choice – accept her roaming or return her to the shelter were the only options left.  She always comes home & she has a routine. We put her on her lead or in her kennel in the morning & she gets out 10-15 minutes later (or while I am at the gym) & takes off. She comes back about an hour or so later & lays around the yard. I put her on her lead then. Sometimes she stays on her lead, sometimes she gets out of it but lays near it. We go for a walk around lunch together & about 3 she takes off again for an hour or so before coming back.  Since she spends most of the time in the yard I don’t worry about it too much anymore.

We’re not entirely sure where she goes but we suspect she has some play dates. We do know she visits a dog a couple houses up the road. We found her there a few times. The family has a son who takes TKD with the boys. Apparently since Athena began visiting this summer the family’s dog has lost some weight and is much more playful and energetic than she used to be. They like having Athena come up during the day when they are working & the kids are at school. It gives their dog exercise. Havoc has seen her from the bus and one of the kids on it mentioned that she comes & plays with his dog sometimes.

Then the other night she came home with a note stuck in her collar

“Hey there. What’s your dog’s name. she keeps coming over to my house to play with my dog which is no problem. I was just wondering what I should call her.” then in a  different ink and handwriting ‘over   --->”

On the other side it said this

She’d come home collarless a few weeks earlier & we’d replaced the collar but forgot to get a new tag with her name & our phone #. So not only did someone finally get curious about her but she then went somewhere else where the people saw the note & had also seen her often enough to wonder about her name.

I am so embarrassed by this. At least she isn’t being a problem for people. Believe me, if I could get her to stay I would.