Doggie's Jailbreak Drama Ends in Romance

March 9, 2001 Erdmore, Michigan, USA

Imagine a maddening wail of sirens; imagine the confused and corybantic voices in the night, barking out orders and panicked replies.  Amid the entire conflagration is a feeding-frenzy of spotlights, crossing and re-crossing each other in a tangled maelstrom that ravages the entire compound.

And out there somewhere is our slippery hero, panting and gasping at the brink of exhaustion, but no—there's no time to rest.

Having torn open the chain-link cage from its steel piping, he now races toward the locked window that glares defiantly at him one meter up above his head.

But he methodically dismantles the hinge and leaps through the opening.  A true criminal mastermind, this dog had planned his daring escape well.

Still he does not stop to savor his freedom, for his trial is not even halfway through.  There are still 16 km of unfamiliar terrain that he must cross, and once he reaches his destination he will yet be faced with another challenge: how to break in!

What you have just read is exactly the way it happened (well, ok... minus the sirens and spotlights) last week at the Montcalm County Animal Shelter.  Some time either late Sunday night or early Monday, "Chocolate" the chocolate lab managed to foil his captors and effect his exciting jailbreak.

What, you may ask, prompted Chocolate to engineer and execute such a caper?  What else?—love!

You see, waiting at the other end of his 16 km odyssey was his lost love Abby, a German shorthair pointer, whom he'd met for the first time late last month when he wandered into the home of Katie and Kevin Rinard near Erdmore, Michigan (USA).

At the time, the Rinards decided to take their starving visitor in, and they cared for him for about a week, during which the chemistry between Chocolate and Abby was undeniable—especially since Abby was in heat at the time.

Eventually, though, the sweethearts were parted when the family decided to turn Chocolate over to the Montcalm shelter, hoping his original owner would come for him.

Three days later on Monday morning they were quite surprised to see the persistent pooch and his puppy-love Abby together in Abby's wire mesh pen outside.  Upon calling the shelter, the Rinards learned about the escape.

Since then, they have purchased a dog license for Chocolate, and they've decided to try to locate his owner themselves.  If no one claims him, the Rinards may end up keeping him at the house with Abby.

Now wouldn't that be a happy ending?

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