Oh Happy, this one is going to be a long one so buckle up. A little background information on Happy – he was one of the 64 dogs confiscated from a hoarding case a while back. He was then adopted from the shelter. Many of these dogs as we know were not socialized & therefore fearful/skittish.
Fast forward to August this year, Animal Control was contacted by a lovely lady who was concerned for Happy because he would not stay on his property, he would cross in front of cars, and appeared to have a leg injury. After some research it was discovered that even his owners could not catch him. Animal Control set a trap hoping to catch him, but he had other ideas. He refused to enter their trap, possibly because it was too small. After a couple weeks of trying & being unsuccessful, our team was asked if we could help on September 1st. Of course we can!
We got in touch with the property owner who was so lovely to work with & started with a feeding station and camera (Photo 1). We then moved to our Tomahawk box trap but he was unwilling to enter, even though it was adequate size (Photo 2). We kept him fed day and night until we could get our missy trap over and set up. This goofy boy came over before we were completely finished setting up the panels, so in true fashion – we hid in the car until he left (Photo 3). He did not want to enter and even tried digging to get the food (Photo 4). It took him a couple of days to finally cross the threshold of the missy trap & enter. Ole Roy canned food is what did the trick for this boy! It is so stinky he could not resist! (Photo 5)
This past weekend (9/16/2023) we decided it was go time so we finished setting up the “raytripper” which is a sensor mechanism that trips when he breaks the beam and the door closes, and making sure it was tightly secured to prevent an escape. He always had a pretty strict evening routine and would come between 5/530pm. Not on the day of trapping! We were starting to get a little worried when 6pm hit & we had not seen him (considering we had been out there since 1pm).
He finally showed & it was heart racing waiting for that door to close. We heard the door slam & off we went! We got him! (Photo 6, 7, 8, & 9) He was so scared but such a sweet gentle giant. Our lovely friends at Animal Control came to pick him up from us. We can’t thank them enough! He is getting the care he needs at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter currently & we wish him the very best luck with a new home!
©Diamond In The Rough Pet Recovery 