Zoilo - The Escapee

I have driven hundreds of transports, carrying thousands of dogs, cats, bunnies and other critters from northern Minnesota. Never, in my six plus years of transporting animals, has a dog escaped from their kennel during transport.

Never, that is, until this past Saturday.

When I met Nancy in Motley for our weekly swap of clean kennels for dogs and cats, we noticed that the gate on Zoilo's crate was bent inward. Being the responsible transporters that we are, we reinforced the front of Zoilo's kennel with two bungee cords and felt quite certain there would no issues.

I was about 45 minutes from my first stop in Buffalo when I heard an odd noise from the back of the van. I glanced in the rearview mirror and to my surprise; I could see Zoilo's head sticking out of his kennel.  Before I could even react, he had fully escaped.

Zoilo had a look of joy on his face as he walked back and forth across the crates of the other dogs and cats, and stopped to investigate each one.  Hisses and growls met each sniff but Zoilo wasn’t deterred.  He was obviously quite proud of himself that a silly old crate couldn’t hold such a determined canine.

Mighty Proud of Himself

Thankfully, I was in a location where I could immediately pull into a parking lot to deal with the escapee.  I quickly placed a slip lead over Zoilo’s head and attached the other end to the passenger seat in an attempt to keep him somewhat controlled.  I then moved the other crates beyond the reach of Zoilo’s leash.  Before we got back on the road, I placed a second slip lead on Zoilo thinking it might be a good idea should he somehow escape one of them.

Zoilo was less than pleased to be leashed, which became obvious when in 10 seconds, he chewed through one of the slip leads and started work on the second one.  Thankfully, I was able to deter him from fully escaping again and the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.

Enjoying the Sights

We are not sure what Zoilo’s life was like before he came to us, but I’m pretty sure he may have spent some time with Houdini’s dog.

Destroyed Gate