The idea of an animal shelter is pretty simple…Dogs stay in the shelter and wait for adopters to come to them. It’s a system that, generally, works.
But Scout, a former resident of the Antrim County Animal Shelter in Michigan, wasn’t having any of it. Instead, he decided to take matters into his own paws and find his adopters himself.
Scout scaled the two large fences surrounding the shelter, crossed a busy highway, and waltzed right in through the automatic doors of a nursing home a few blocks away. Satisfied with his work, Scout then jumped onto a couch in the lobby to get some much needed rest.
The nursing home staff assumed Scout was a stray pup and called the local shelter a few blocks away. The surprised shelter staff at Antrim County Animal Shelter brought Scout back to the shelter.
But Scout had his own plans.
He escaped again a few days later and made his way right back to his favorite couch in the lobby. This time, of course, Scout was recognized, the shelter was called and back he went.
Until he escaped again…and again! In total, Scout escaped three times over a few weeks and each time went to back the nursing home for his favorite couch and his favorite people.
How To Get Adopted
Scout made his intentions very clear- he wanted to spend his days, like so many elderly residents, at the Meadow Brook Medical Care Facility.
Now it was up to the nursing home to play their part. Marna Robertson told USA Today “I’m a person who looks at outward signs, and if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.” She went on to say, “He did that one time, two times, three times, and obviously that’s something that you should pay attention to. And I asked the staff: ‘Well, he wants to be here. Would anybody like to have a dog?’”
Of course, the answer was yes and Scout secured himself not just one adopter but instead an entire facility of people ready to give him all the love. You can see Scout having a blast with residents here:
Still, Scout Has A Serious Job To Do
But Scout doesn’t just receive attention, he also gives it to every resident of Meadow Brook Medical Care Facility. Sometimes, that means comforting residents during extremely tough times.
For residents in their final days, Scout is a source of comfort and calm. Martinek told USA Today “If somebody is in the passing process, he’s in and out of the room, checking on them. He’ll even want to climb in bed with them.”
In some cases, Scout has refused to leave the room until the resident had passed, staying by their side to provide comfort the entire time.
Why Did Scout Choose The Nursing Home?
We don’t know why Scout chose the nursing home. We don’t know anything at all about Scout. He was a scared stray pup that was dropped up at the local shelter. We can only guess whether or not Scout had elderly caretakers in his life before the shelter or if he simply went to the first couch he saw.
Scout does seem to know that he’s a caregiver at heart and rather than wait for the shelter to connect him with his forever home, he not only found his forever home but his forever purpose comforting the elderly residents of Meadow Brook Medical Care Facility.
