The very next day while doing yard work, right in front of my husband, this Houdini dog climbed again, rung by fence rung. He was busted mid-air, red handed, err pawed, and steered into the house.
This meant I would have to walk him. One rainy day with the ground damp and muddy, he pulled me down, oh yeah, splat! Flat on my face. Not a happy camper was I. We turned to the Internet for advice. One suggestion for fence climbin’ dogs was to hot-wire your fence. Off we trudged to the hardware store to obtain supplies to secure the backyard for our foster boy. Maybe Emmitt took his Running Back namesake too serious. We were not entirely confident with our solution, but we had to try to contain him.
The write up describing Emmitt needed to be changed. I had a premonition he was too good to be true. The adoption requirements had to be amended. The home yard must now incorporate a tall secure, solid wooden fence rather than chain link. After many emails from a wide variety of prospects we found a family that seemed like a perfect match for our boy.
We wondered if we would be able to let him go. Would he want to leave us? Would he understand we were just a pit stop in his life? The couple walked in. Emmitt met them nice and polite. While we all chatted he stayed close by my side leaning into me. Curiosity got the best of him so Emmitt decided to sniff-check the lady.
He was a people pleaser. She was a dog pleaser who had brought treats. He glanced at me; I nodded and smiled at him. Aloud I whispered, “Its okay Emmitt.” Warily, he accepted a few proffered cookies. Interested he looked up at this new lady. She looked at him with total adoration. He never left her side again. As they walked out to their car Emmitt did not feel the need to look back at us. He only had eyes for her. It was a bittersweet feeling of loss and accomplishment to find the right dog/human match.