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The Saga of Lost Jasper


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My foster boy, Jasper and I were at the Holiday Pet Festival Event yesterday and a colleague of mine, John, who had expressed interest in adopting him, came with wife and family to meet him. As the family had already applied (for another dog, who had since got adopted) and were pre-approved, it was no problem for them to take Jasper home immediately and because Jasper was stressed out in the noisy event, I let them take him right there and then, with a promise that I would come to their house later to get the contract signed and help them get Jasper adjusted. Now some concern had been raised during their home visit that the back yard had three sides high block wall, but the front was railings and there was a gap below the railings where a dog might dig and squeeze under, so John said that he would place large stones there to prevent Jasper from escaping.


Barely two hours later, I got a phone call, while I was still at the event. Jasper was loose! He has managed to wriggle between the bars of the railings and bolted at high speed. I rushed there and as I reached the area was told that there had been multiple sightings and a report that someone had managed to leash him and had him safe. We spent some time tracking down the person, only to find that it was a dog with similar markings, but no tail -- maybe a cattle dog mix, but definitely not Jasper. By now the trail was cold and Senneca and I spent some time doing a systematic search of the area on foot, with no luck. With the light beginning to fade, I told John to put up flyers. He printed up 200 and plastered them everywhere. In the meanwhile, Senneca and I headed home, depressed and devastated.


Around 9:30 I received a call saying there was a new sighting of Jasper, so Senneca and I bundled ourselves into the car and sped off to help. I parked my car at the intersection where I was told he had been spotted and Senneca and I started exploring the desert scrub there. John, his wife and an impromptu group of neighbors were searching further down. We could hear Coyotes barking to each other, not very far away. Minutes later, I get a new phone call, saying he had been flushed out of some bushes by a Coyote and was now a little distance down the road. John picked me and Senneca up and started driving in that direction, only to see a dog running for its life towards us. I lept out of the van and called Jasper!, Jasper! as he swung to the other side of the road to pass us. He slowed down and turned back. Despite the panic, he had recognized me. He approached the van and jumped up on John's open window, and then, probably getting Senneca's scent, lept up, with a single bound, and landed on John's lap. I don't know which one of them was most surprised. We drove him back to John's house where everyone got a chance to calm down, before he accompanied Senneca and I back home. He refused dinner, but slept soundly during the night and is back to his normal self today.


While I was at John's home, I did examine the railings and I am amazed that he was able to wriggle through, yet John's family watched helplessly as he did exactly that.



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Glad to hear he is safe. I hope that John and his family will still adopt him (once the fence is Jasper-proofed).

At this moment, I am assuming that this will not be the case, though once frayed nerves have calmed down and we can look back and smile at the adventure (and, not least, the happy ending), maybe things will change. John's wife was devastated and shaken up by the whole incident. Jasper was pretty shaken too, so I'm sure he understood that he was on line to be Coyote dinner. [ I live about 30mins drive away from John and our local Coyotes mostly stay away from housing areas. Then again, our sub-divisions are much tighter packed than the area where John lives, which has mostly horse property with lots of 1/2 acre and more as well as undeveloped scrub areas. ]

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Dogs can get through unbelievably small holes. I assume if they can get their head through, the rest will fit too. Cats are worse. I once saw a half-grown kitten get under a door that had a 1" gap under it. And I've seen full-grown mice get through 1/4 inch with mesh. Houdini was a piker compared to those mice!

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I had a full grown Great Pyr that would get out through a 6" X 8" hole under the fence. I never understood how because his head was bigger than that, but he did it more than once.

 

I'm glad to hear that the end of the story was a good one and that Jasper is safe.

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I have five and with the execption on once of twice I have always had to really go search for the hole under the fence. The workers are almost always unable to find the holes. I tell them you have to look for just a bit of flattened grass or a single stone slightly out of place. But then they are used to look for holes made by jackall and goats who just break the fence wide open. I've learned to spot the signs and the weaknesses, sometimes I even use them to check the sheep and goats' sleeping quaters. I leave two or three goats in there for "bait and let the dog loose to see if they can find a hole in the fence and get in. If they can get, so can a determined jackall.

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One thing I do, and also suggest to adopters and new fosters is to let the dog trail a light leash for few days.

I often do the same, but in this case, a trailing leash could have got caught in the desert scrub and made him a sitting target for a Coyote -- or more likely he would have chewed it off.
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