Little joys and big heartbreak

Two nights ago we decided to see if Skywalker would sleep all night in his crate with the door open.  He did!  Admittedly, his crate is within an ex-pen (a wire portable exercise surround with no top), but Skywalker and my Radley are adept at scaling ex-pens when they want to, so Walker staying in his crate and his ex-pen all night I consider a huge step forward.  Especially since the crate is on the side of the bed where Evil Foster Dad sleeps.

Skywalker was very shy last night when I had company, including another of those very scary baseball cap wearing men, and he immediately and hastily trotted back to the bedroom and into his ex-pen. (The doors  on both his inside ex-pens are left open during the day so he can go into his sanctuaries as he pleases.)  After company left, I went back to the bedroom and Walker was lying quietly in a niche between the crate and the armoire, probably trying to hide the view of Evil Foster Dad sitting in the chair doing some reading for work.  Skywalker looked very comfortable, even with Foster Dad there. I found one of our incredible number of fleece pads, picked up Skywalker, and put the blankie down for him.  He settled right back in and promptly went to sleep.  When we were ready to go to sleep, I closed the ex-pen door but decided to let Skywalker sleep next to his open crate (oops, breaking those Foster Home rules again).  He stayed quietly on the blanket all night!  Paul and I were so excited because we realized this is probably the first time in his life that Skywalker didn't sleep in a cage or crate!  He got to camp out!  This won't be Skywalker's new routine for night but he succeeded brilliantly in this new step forward in exploring freedom.

It was bitterly cold this morning, 5 degrees, when we first let the dogs out at 6 am for their morning "dookies."  Wasn't too hard to get them back in for breakfast!  I built a fire in the wood stove so they could all gather around. Even the pseudo-tough barn cats (including semi-feral Willow) trooped through the cat door and settled in.  The newspaper and a cup of coffee accompanied me so I could watch them.  (Selfless of me, huh?) Quite a cozy scene.

After about an hour, Skywalker really wanted to go out, so I let all 3 dogs out the door.  Radley and Miss Parker made it to the edge of the porch and decided the wood stove was much more appealing than romping on frozen grass.  Skywalker peeked back in the door but opted for the safety of open spaces.  Once he goes out, he is always reluctant to come back in.  If I'd been in prison my whole life, I think I'd want to be outside all the time, too.

I was worried about Skywalker being out in the cold but I could see him in the yard through the French doors and he made no move to come to the door.  He just broke my heart though, because he curled up on the freezing ground, tucked his nose into his paws, and laid there looking back through the doors at all of us warm and toasty inside.  I was sure he would give up and ask to come back in but he didn't.  After 15 minutes, I couldn't take it anymore, and walked out to him.  He didn't shy or move at all, except for shaking from the cold, and I picked him up, snuggled him to me, and carried him back inside.  What a sad, sad statement this is on his poor little former life.  He would rather be outside, shivering, forsaking his beloved Foster Mom and Foster Sibs, than give up the freedom of the outdoors.