Safely Home: Tristan, The Two-Time Houdini

It’s thunderstorm season, and our poor Pointer, Tristan, developed a fear of both storms and fireworks as an adult dog. During one of these rumbling days, we left our pup at home, locked up tight with a few windows left ajar to let some air in. Around 1:00 p.m. I got a phone call from a local vet saying they had my dog. I thought, ‘There’s no way. He’s locked up at home.’ They insisted, ‘We scanned his chip. That’s how we got your phone number.’

I left immediately to pick Tristan up from the home of a wonderful family who had been the ones to happen upon him in the rain and take him to the vet. PetLink informed me about my missing pet as soon as they had been contacted by the vet. The microchip ensured that my precious pup could be identified and returned home. Without it, I think the very nice family who found him would’ve had a new member! When I got him home, I saw the escape route he had used. He had opened one of the windows, pushed out the screen, and jumped about 10 feet to the ground below!

Four days later… when all the windows were closed … I received another phone call. ‘Hello? We have Tristan.’ This time, it was our own vet calling. I thought, ‘This is insane! How can you possibly have my dog?! We left everything closed. He couldn’t have gotten out unless he broke a window. Oh no! Did he break a window?’ The vet insisted Tristan wasn’t injured in any way. Again, I left my office and drove over to pick up my little escape artist.

When we got home, I inspected the house. Nothing had been broken. He had gone around to all the windows until he found one that had been left unlocked. He opened that window, popped the screen out, and jumped down AGAIN. Since this second incident, Tristan has been back in his crate, and will continue to be in there until the constant thunderstorms have passed.