More About Rocky...

A few people have asked me if Rocky has ever ran off before... he has wandered off before, always when he hasn't been with me. He has always had separation anxiety issues - and his intelligence, athleticism, and persistence has caused me some headaches (all of the worth it) in the past. When he was a puppy - I bought 6 different types of crates all with different types of builds and opening mechanisms. He learned how to get out of all of them. He escaped out of every apartment I lived in too, until I finally realized that the only thing that I would feel comfortable with is a dual cylinder lock so he would need a key to get out. One time, an apartment complex manager in California called me at work to scold me for letting my dog out loose. I said I would never do that - but ran home to investigate anyway. Mind you, when I had left him that day, he was in my bedroom in a crate. Well - he got out of the crate, opened the bedroom door, opened the apartment door and then apparently had a good old time wandering the complex until the apartment manager found him. The apartment manager then chased him all the way back to my apartment where he ran back in and then closed the door in her face! And if this isn't amazing enough - after I told the story to some neighbors, I found out he did the same thing a few nights before while I was out to dinner (that time he was back in the apartment when I got home, so the only thing that was amiss was my front door was unlocked which I attributed to user error). I guess my point of the above story is this is how I know Rocky is looking to come home... while he may want to roam free when he's not with me, it was only to try and find me. And failing that, he'll just come home and wait for me. I always wondered what he thought when I left and why he would act out in these ways. Like, did he think I was never going to come back? That I was leaving him to be all alone forever? Well, if that is the way he felt, I can relate now. And I just don't know how much longer I can deal with looking for him and failing and coming home to an empty apartment.