The Stellar Stella: A Houdini in Training

Meet Stella, my new foster for about the next month.

Stella, an 18 month Great Pyrenees, is currently recovering from her treatment for heart worm. That means she needs a good four weeks of quiet without anything that might make her heart beat quickly.

Unfortunately, that means this very playful girl can’t go on walks, do stairs or play with us too much. But she’s in a very quiet environment now (except on football Sundays, but I will try to keep my yelling down!) and will hopefully get that rest she needs.

My mom and I picked her up yesterday evening from her… I think fourth foster. She started off with a man who took really good care of her – although bacon and eggs for meals was a really bad habit to start her on – but reportedly never came back to get her from the vet after her heartworm treatment. She was at the vet for four days!

Since then she’s been bounced around from foster to foster within Casey’s Safe Haven network, as they looked for a good place for her to recuperate. Her last place she was at for a couple of days was nice, but the owners have a puppy who just wanted to romp around with Stella. And that’s a big no-no for a dog undergoing HW+ treatment.

So we picked up this giant, 80 pound ball of fluff last night and brought her home. She really likes car rides (see the attached video with all 22 seconds of doggy bliss) and got home no problem. We walked around the house, the yard and showed her where she’ll be staying for the next few weeks.

Stella has been panting pretty heavily since we got her, and we think part of it is all the excitement and stress, and the other part is because of her breed. They really don’t like heat. We’ve got the AC on and I’ve coaxed her to lie down in the family room with a bag fan overhead. She seems to be doing a bit better (although I’m bundled up in a hoodie and blanket!) and hopefully this is what she needs.

But back to last night. All was going well until we had to put her to bed. We did not have a new crate and only had Lexi’s old one, which was a good size for a 50 pound dog, but not quite for Stella’s size. See the picture of her checking it out – she’s as tall as it!

So we opted we’d gate her in the back hallway with all of her blankets and some carpeting squares.

She was crying and crying (which we were told she does when people leave her) but we did our best to let her calm down on her own and went upstairs. Not even 5 minutes later there was a giant crash and Stella was free from that gate!

So we tried the second gate. I sat with Stella for about 20 minutes, talking to her and calming her down behind the new gate. But as soon as I went to go to bed, she started crying again. Five minutes later she’s loose, having pushed the gate free from the bottom and slipping out.

At that point we didn’t have a choice and opted to try the crate. She was a big snug but went inside and we made sure it was securely closed. My mom hung out with her until she calmed down and then she made a quick escape. No whining. Success?

Not quite. This morning upon going downstairs, who greets us at the bottom of the staircase but Stella!

Upon inspection of her cage, it was still securely locked. This wily girl bent the wire up about 3 inches on the bottom and somehow managed to squeeze out of there. Thankfully though nothing appears chewed on or eaten (even the garbage!). Which is good, as we have nothing else that can hold an 80 pound dog who is determined to get out, so it looks like she’ll be picking her own sleeping spot at night!

Today we’re going to try a bath, as a family that had her applied some oils to help Stella with the pain (heartworm treatment is very painful) but it’s a bit smelly and not doing much at this point. Stella apparently loves water, so we’re hoping bath time is a fun affair!