We’ve been working hard in the yard (which is an entirely different blog post) and the gate was opened and closed all day Sunday. Most of the time Dante, our dog, was in the dog run but Claire kept letting him out to play with him. We would tell her to put him away, but … well, we all know Claire.

Around 6:00pm Claire and I ran out for a birthday party and got home late. Dante usually sits under Donna’s feet or under the coffee table, so I barely blinked and went to bed. The next morning Claire and I were out the door early and I started getting the texts from Donna about 8:30am. “Dante’s missing!”

By that time Donna had been driving the neighborhood looking for him. Dante’s a very social dog and so he’d be running out to people who were walking dogs and catching school buses; he was doing none of this.

Donna was pretty upset so I headed home at my first break. Immediately I called our vet to find Dante’s chip number (under his skin between his shoulder blades). They didn’t have the number, which concerned me. I called Maricopa Animal and the didn’t even have him registers (ever). Oooppps. I finally did find the chip # and the company who chipped him said they’d send out a pet apb if we paid the full enrollment. It was $17.00 and we didn’t want to explain to Claire that her dog was missing, so we bought it.

I then made fliers, hung them on stop sign poles and light posts all over the neighborhood. I also stuffed doors and talked to people for two hours. Nothing. It was hot, and I was tired; I also needed to get back to work.

Before I took off, I called the Chandler Police Department. They told me to post on Pets911.com and also on Craig’s List. I headed back towards work, grabbed take away lunch, and then drove towards work. As I got close, my mobile rang.

I said hello and a woman’s voice said “did you get your dog back?” I told her “No”, and she responded that she’d seen my ad on Craig’s List. Then she said she saw another ad about a “Found Dog” that looked just like mine on the same street where I lost mine, half an hour after I lost mine. She gave me the guy’s number and I thanked her profusely before leaving him a voice mail.

Donna quickly found the ad online and we confirmed it was our dog happily posing for the camera in some stranger’s house. Eventually Robert, the stranger, called us back and said Dante was very happy and had had a bath (he was playing outside all week with us working in the yard). We made arrangements to pick him up after work.

Claire, Donna and I went over (about 15 houses away from our own),and I also rid to give him money for his troubles. He refused it and said someone once did the same thing for him when his dog got away. He’s a great guy and gave Dante a huge hug before he left. We did talk to Claire about the gates and listening to her parents, but we sure are relieved that Dante the Dog Adams is home and safe.