Post by hc4ch on Jan 9, 2007 15:32:27 GMT -5
Thought I'd share this story with you all, hope you enjoy it.
Introduction:
Louie is our 18 pound 11 year old male totally indoor Rag doll/Main coon Kitty, laid back and very dog like...
Fallon is our 3 year old Female Greyhound, very smart and very playful.
Louie on occasion gets it in his head to sneak out the door, because he smells other cats in the neighborhood I guess.... sometimes he just makes it onto the deck but he's actually escaped 4 times in his life but never gets very far because he has no street smarts...he has no idea what he is supposed to do outside...but each time he will venture a little father.....! !!!! So we are always frantic to get him back in the house, especially since we have bear and coyote's roaming..... Fallon and Louie have had their moments over the last year and a half, Initially when we fostered her she was very interested in Him....no matter what training I tried with her hours later it was forgotten..so when she and the Louie were together she was muzzled and we could verbally correct any interest she had......she was in foster with us for 5 months and at that point she had been ignoring Louie for a month or so, so we felt this was a promising sign and we signed the adoption papers and
felt sure in the next month or so we would be able to trust her unmuzzled with Louie....not so...as soon as we would take her muzzle off it was "game on" and she wanted to hunt for him..... now a year later we finally are to the point where they can be trusted together without the muzzle, she ignores him 24/7 now, and we've even found them sleeping two feet apart....... it's been a slow process but one that has been worth while taking precautions and extra work....
Sunday night, when our girls went to bed, they could not find Louie, (he must have gotten out when our company left )...he has a habit of tucking everyone in at bedtime, he's done it ever since he was a kitten, when all three kids were younger and had different bedtimes Louie would go snuggle with the first one for 1/2 hour and then appear to go to bed with the next oldest....at the end of the evening he went to bed with us.....so the times he has been missing it's at bedtime we discover it and go searching in the dark for him.....just like Sunday night......we searched for like a half hour with flash lights and no luck, all around the house, around the yard and in the near by woods...Louie is not one to come when called if he is outside, he hides... after searching with no luck Jade got his cat carrier and food and brought it out front of the house....I opened the barn door in case he could take shelter there....Marty and Jade were going inside for the night and I said..."bring
me Fallon" maybe she can find him, of coarse she was all excited to be out and about at that time of night and I said "find louie" ,..."where's louie"....she started going crazy following a trail around the pond , into the lane, stopped quickly and headed back for the house....... she was all squirrelly and crazy, I had a hard time holding her... I figured she was on the trail of something but could she actually be looking for Louie ?.she went to the back deck, sniffed for a second and sat quickly and quietly and looked at me.....I looked under the deck with my flash light and saw nothing, Marty was looking out the patio door and gesturing with his hands" what's she doing" ? because it was such a sudden sit motion !!!! I shone the flashlight under the pine tree's, up in the pine tree's and saw nothing and still she sat there......so we went around the back side of the house and nothing, so we turned around and came back to the deck again she was sniffing it again but then
wanted to go towards the front of the house...so we walked to the front of the house and she stopped and stuck her nose in the air and sniffed and then again sat quickly and quietly and looked at me.....we were right by the vehicles, so I looked under and saw nothing again...so I said well this is just crazy she must be smelling something else, ...so we turned to the front steps to go in the house....she sniffed his carrier and then she started sniffing the steps, she went off the steps into the garden slightly and was sniffing the lattis work under the front deck...
I put the light in there and then I saw louie come right up to Fallon's nose, LOL.......she definitely knew who she was looking for, and I suppose Louie was on the move when he'd hear us coming and he'd look for another shelter spot....these dogs will never stop amazing me....Fallon and I had just done obedience classes this Fall so sitting quietly was her way of alerting me....pretty cool....
Oh...and Louie was happy to be back in the house, this should keep him away from the door for a few months, it always does :-)
Judi,
Chaz, Quade, Fallon and Louie the escape artisit....
Introduction:
Louie is our 18 pound 11 year old male totally indoor Rag doll/Main coon Kitty, laid back and very dog like...
Fallon is our 3 year old Female Greyhound, very smart and very playful.
Louie on occasion gets it in his head to sneak out the door, because he smells other cats in the neighborhood I guess.... sometimes he just makes it onto the deck but he's actually escaped 4 times in his life but never gets very far because he has no street smarts...he has no idea what he is supposed to do outside...but each time he will venture a little father.....! !!!! So we are always frantic to get him back in the house, especially since we have bear and coyote's roaming..... Fallon and Louie have had their moments over the last year and a half, Initially when we fostered her she was very interested in Him....no matter what training I tried with her hours later it was forgotten..so when she and the Louie were together she was muzzled and we could verbally correct any interest she had......she was in foster with us for 5 months and at that point she had been ignoring Louie for a month or so, so we felt this was a promising sign and we signed the adoption papers and
felt sure in the next month or so we would be able to trust her unmuzzled with Louie....not so...as soon as we would take her muzzle off it was "game on" and she wanted to hunt for him..... now a year later we finally are to the point where they can be trusted together without the muzzle, she ignores him 24/7 now, and we've even found them sleeping two feet apart....... it's been a slow process but one that has been worth while taking precautions and extra work....
Sunday night, when our girls went to bed, they could not find Louie, (he must have gotten out when our company left )...he has a habit of tucking everyone in at bedtime, he's done it ever since he was a kitten, when all three kids were younger and had different bedtimes Louie would go snuggle with the first one for 1/2 hour and then appear to go to bed with the next oldest....at the end of the evening he went to bed with us.....so the times he has been missing it's at bedtime we discover it and go searching in the dark for him.....just like Sunday night......we searched for like a half hour with flash lights and no luck, all around the house, around the yard and in the near by woods...Louie is not one to come when called if he is outside, he hides... after searching with no luck Jade got his cat carrier and food and brought it out front of the house....I opened the barn door in case he could take shelter there....Marty and Jade were going inside for the night and I said..."bring
me Fallon" maybe she can find him, of coarse she was all excited to be out and about at that time of night and I said "find louie" ,..."where's louie"....she started going crazy following a trail around the pond , into the lane, stopped quickly and headed back for the house....... she was all squirrelly and crazy, I had a hard time holding her... I figured she was on the trail of something but could she actually be looking for Louie ?.she went to the back deck, sniffed for a second and sat quickly and quietly and looked at me.....I looked under the deck with my flash light and saw nothing, Marty was looking out the patio door and gesturing with his hands" what's she doing" ? because it was such a sudden sit motion !!!! I shone the flashlight under the pine tree's, up in the pine tree's and saw nothing and still she sat there......so we went around the back side of the house and nothing, so we turned around and came back to the deck again she was sniffing it again but then
wanted to go towards the front of the house...so we walked to the front of the house and she stopped and stuck her nose in the air and sniffed and then again sat quickly and quietly and looked at me.....we were right by the vehicles, so I looked under and saw nothing again...so I said well this is just crazy she must be smelling something else, ...so we turned to the front steps to go in the house....she sniffed his carrier and then she started sniffing the steps, she went off the steps into the garden slightly and was sniffing the lattis work under the front deck...
I put the light in there and then I saw louie come right up to Fallon's nose, LOL.......she definitely knew who she was looking for, and I suppose Louie was on the move when he'd hear us coming and he'd look for another shelter spot....these dogs will never stop amazing me....Fallon and I had just done obedience classes this Fall so sitting quietly was her way of alerting me....pretty cool....
Oh...and Louie was happy to be back in the house, this should keep him away from the door for a few months, it always does :-)
Judi,
Chaz, Quade, Fallon and Louie the escape artisit....