The squirrel is always the plan
A Feist lives to tree squirrels. That single fact explains most home escapes: the dog was not running away from home, he was running toward a squirrel, and the fence was simply in the way. Feists climb far better than their size suggests, scramble up leaning trunks and chain-link, and dig under boards when climbing fails. Start your security audit in the garden, at dog height, following a squirrel's route. Any tree, shed, woodpile or compost bin within leaping distance of the fence is a step in a staircase. Move the steps, trim the low branches, and cap chain-link with a smooth strip if your dog has learned to get his toes into the mesh.
Fences that defeat digging and climbing together
Fix one escape style and a Feist tests the other, so handle both in the same pass. Along the base, bury mesh or lay paving slabs against the inside of the fence where the soil is soft, especially near trees where squirrels land and the scent is strongest. At the top, remove toeholds and overhanging branches on your side, and talk to neighbours before branches on their side become his bridge. Check gates for the gap at the bottom corner, which a slim Feist can widen by digging one determined evening. After storms, walk the whole line again, because one fallen branch against a fence undoes months of careful proofing in a single night.
Indoor hazards for a hunting mouth
The same mouth that carries game will sample whatever smells interesting indoors. Store rodent poison, slug pellets and antifreeze in locked cupboards, never on garage floors, because a hunting dog actively seeks the places rodents visit, which is exactly where poisons get placed. Pick up hair ties, socks, corn cobs and children's toys small enough to swallow, and use bins with lids he cannot flip. If he vomits repeatedly, stops eating, strains, or you know he has reached bait or a battery, contact a veterinarian the same day and say what he may have eaten. Feists are stoic little dogs, so take a sudden quietness or a skipped meal seriously rather than assuming he is tired from patrolling.
Doors, visitors and supervised freedom
Front-door discipline matters because a Feist is fast and low, the exact combination that slips past a visitor's knees during a parcel handover. Use a baby gate or a closed inner door as his airlock, and teach a solid settle on a mat away from the entrance so he has a job during arrivals. Let him enjoy the garden freely once it is proofed, but keep supervision high during squirrel-heavy mornings and after any fence work by contractors, whose temporary panels rarely meet Feist standards. Refresh his recall indoors and in the garden with high-value rewards, while never relying on recall alone against a squirrel in full flight.
If he does scale, dig or squeeze his way out after game, KinsLe's Verified QR ID Pet Profiles let whoever finds this uncommon little dog scan his tag and see exactly who he is and how to reach you.