Shelter Dog Made Famous for Escaping Her Kennel Finds Forever Home

A smart shelter dog named Squeaky, who was the Internet star of a viral video that showed her sneaking herself out of her kennel, was eventually adopted but only after months of waiting.

Staff at the Great Plains SPCA in Kansas City, Missouri kept finding Squeaky outside of her kennel. They decided to use a video camera to find out what was going on and were surprised at what they saw.

Great Plains SPCA wrote, “Our staff were perplexed when they would put her back in her suite and moments later she would be running around freely in the adoption area. After playing detective we discovered how this sweet girl was making her escape – Miss Smarty Pants!”

Although Squeaky’s video went viral and got a lot of positive attention, the 2-year-old Boxer/Retriever mix did not find her forever home right away. This perplexing situation happens sometimes with shelter animals that go viral online.

But in a curious turn of events, Squeaky’s clever kennel escape wasn’t even known to Christen Hanna when she entered the shelter.

Christen Hanna shared with DogHeirs how she and Marie-Laurence (the foreign exchange student she’s been hosting) ended up choosing Squeaky.

Christen Hanna wrote:

“I’ve been hosting a foreign exchange student, Marie-Laurence from Quebec, who loves to run. I was nervous about her running on the trails by herself when she mentioned she had never had her own dog and wanted one. I thought a dog would be a perfect solution as a running partner, not to mention a great friend for someone so far away from home. So, two days ago we went in search of a shelter to “look” at some dogs. We even ended up at a different shelter than we had intended.

“We were about to walk out when we both saw ‘Squeaky’ and said, ‘she’s exactly what we are looking for.’ Which was also funny in itself as we hadn’t really talked about it, we were just ‘looking’.”

“As we were signing her out, we found out that she had gone viral with a video of her ability to get out of her room. We both thought the video was funny, but it didn’t deter us from wanting her at all. We liked that she’s smart. The shelter said she had been in the shelter for awhile and they couldn’t figure out why. I like to think it’s because Marie-Laurence and I wanted her so badly.

“We have re-named her Hanna, which is my last name. The plan is that Marie-Laurence will take Hanna back to Canada with her. She will always be able to tell people Hanna was named after her family in the United States.

“Don’t worry, if anything would prevent her to go, I will keep Hanna with me. The agreement Marie-Laurence and I made before we signed the papers.

“Tonight I asked Marie-Laurence how Hanna was working out as a running partner. She responded -‘parfait’ [perfect] …. Yes, Hanna who once gained national attention, has gone international!”

Here’s a video of new best friends Hanna and Marie-Laurence heading out for a run!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJth7xRdZy4&feature=emb_title

If Hanna’s story tells us anything, it’s that nothing beats making the effort to see a homeless dog in person if you are serious about adopting. You never know what wonderful doggie gem has been overlooked!