The Crate Escape.

Rakim the pit bull’s penchant for getting out of enclosed spaces is impressive by any dog’s standards. But at only three years old, his destructive methods and aggressive need to roam eventually led his guardians to worry about his safety. And at the height of his turbulent behavior, they began to wonder if his reckless daredevil bids for freedom might be a sign that he was suicidal.

Brought up in a home in Southern California in which both of his caregivers worked during the day, Rakim was rarely indoors for very long. Often, the couple would come home to find him wandering the neighborhood, having chewed and broken his way through the thick plaster walls and out of the house!

Desperate to discover what fueled his destructive behavior, they called Cesar for a consultation. With a new regimen of exercise and a healthy dose of rules, boundaries, and limitations, Rakim seemed to improve dramatically. But when the couple separated and Rakim went to live with one of them in a smaller home, the stressful energy caused his problems to resurface. Heeding the call of wider, open spaces, Rakim would squeeze through the window and leap from the second floor balcony into the yard below. Incredibly, he was never injured.

Fearing that a kennel would be too cramped for a wanderer like Rakim, his guardians allowed him to be adopted into Cesar’s Pack at the Dog Psychology Center where he has since improved by leaps and bounds. Now 6 years old, the new Rakim is a calm and centered addition to the pack. An excellent hunter, he puts his skills to use ridding the Center of rats and other unwelcome pests. A fine ballplayer, playful with other dogs, and gentle with the children, he has also found his calling as the pack’s resident male nurse! Since his arrival, he has become proficient in caring for the other dogs in the pack – licking and cleaning scrapes and clearing debris from other dogs’ eyes. When Patti LaBelle’s dog Nassir visited the Center and developed an ear infection, Rakim was able to get in close to him to clean the area, soothing him and allowing center employees to better disinfect and administer the necessary medication. And that, Cesar says, is one of the many benefits of the pack: sometimes a dog can do for another dog what a human being cannot alone.