Ever have your dog(s) run away? That’s what happened to us the other night. Wicket, being a bad dog, did something he shouldn’t have done - almost ruining one of mommy’s floor mats. We both scolded him, and took the two dogs to the backyard, where they had been going “outside” since we got here. Well, Mommy started to clean the rug, turning away long enough to let them slip out of our sight. Poof - they were gone. Gone. GONE!? I freaked - absolutely. When I was a kid, I had one of my dogs run away and never return - having nightmares about it to this very day. I’ve never actually made a “lost dog” poster, but after an hour of no traces, my stomach was starting to turn. Ponzi kept her cool, thankfully - despite my ranting and raving. She’s never experienced a lost dog like I have. This, however, is a new neighborhood where we can easily get lost - I had little hope for our pups.

Not content to sit at home and wait for the phone to ring (yes, they’re tagged and microchipped), I took the car out for a spin around the block - a few hundred times. It’s bad enough to have one dog run away, but two?! They’re no bigger than the average cat - with absolutely no street sense. I felt tears coming on - something that rarely happens with me. We were well into hour two, and any shred of hope was fading quickly. I kept scanning the streets, holding my flashlight into the bushes - hoping to see or hear our lost dogs… hoping to find both of them together. Do any of you know the HELL that is this feeling?!

I started to drive down an adjacent street again and… spotted Wicket. “My god… he’s alive.”

A very kind woman had spotted them and took them under her wing. Yes, them - Pixie was with Wicket. They weren’t lost dogs anymore, they were found. I threw the car in park (mid-street), jumped out, and embraced their rescuer. I was *THIS* close to breaking down. Our dogs were doing juuuuuust fine. I took ‘em home, handed each of them over to their adopted mother, and started gushing (almost uncontrollably). We walked upstairs, and… I burst. Dunno why, really. I was relieved, but there was definitely a deeper pain escaping.

Lost dogs? Not this time.