Dog Repeatedly Escapes Shelter, Sneaks Into Nursing Home

August 30, 2023

Do we choose our pets or do they choose us?

The staff at Meadow Brook Medical Care Facility in Bellaire, Michigan believe they choose us - and they have good reason to.

Meet Scout.

Scout / Credit: Meadow Brook Medical Care Facility

In 2017, Scout escaped the Antrim County Animal Shelter three times. Each time he escaped the shelter he was found asleep on the couch in the front lobby of Meadow Brook Medical Care Facility.

After the third time, employees decided to adopt him.

"I'm a person who looks at outward signs," said Marna Robertson, Meadow Brook Administrator. "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?'"

The residents loved him right from the start. Scout walks the halls freely and has even learned to open doors on his own.

"He knows all the residents. He knows who belongs who doesn't belong, and he protects the household," explained Jenny Martinek, Meadow Brook Household Coordinator.

"And he knows when people are sick or you know not doing well and he will go in and lay with them and give them comfort," added Stephanie Elsey, Clinical Care Coordinator at Meadow Brook.

Scout's origins remain shrouded in mystery, except for the fact that he came from an abusive household and arrived scared. But why he chose Meadow Brook Medical Care Facility will always remain a mystery.

"He certainly has a penchant for the elders," Robertson said. "If they have dementia or if they're dying he knows that, and he will go and be with them and comfort them. He must've just felt like he needed to be here."