Saturday was rough. Ordinarily, I will wake up to Willow licking my hand to let me know its time for breakfast. That didn't happen Saturday morning. I noticed it but it didn't strike me as particularly odd. She could have been playing with the boys or already fed. As I made my way downstairs her absence became obvious. She was nowhere to be found inside or out. The last time that she had been seen was around 10pm the previous night when she jumped into bed with the boys.
Now I'm getting concerned. She's learned how to open the gate in the backyard if it isn't locked. Sometime between Friday night/Saturday morning she decided to go for an solo adventure.
The gf, boys, and I all start combing the neighborhood. No sign of her. Her collar has my contact info engraved on it so anybody that comes across her would be able to get a hold of me. I get on my phone and start putting out missing dog posts on FB, nextdoor, the county shelter sites, etc. She is super friendly and would approach anybody that called her. She's got a chip so if she was turned in to a shelter or vet they would be able to reunite us. At this point I'm starting to think that she's either dead/injured on the side of the road or somebody has decided to keep her. She's a beautiful purebred lab from Amwell Hunting Dogs so she's obviously a pretty high priced prize.
I can't just sit at the house waiting for a phone call so I start driving. For hours. I know that the odds of me finding her in this manner are pretty low. It's now 4pm and she's been gone for 18hrs. I've got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. She's gone. Somebody has dognapped her.
Then, a phone call. "Do you have a dog named Willow?" Holy shit! Relief washes over me. I get the address and haul ass.
The lady tells me that she works at a grocery store a couple of blocks away and her coworker saw a sedan stop in front of the store and drop Willow off. Her explanation seems a little shady to me but I'm so happy to have my dog back that I don't really question it. Internally, I'm like "why the fuck wouldn't someone just call me from the store? Why wait and take her home? Nobody at Safeway has a phone?" etc.
This episode was fucking scary. Everybody in the house snuggles with her the rest of the night.
Sunday morning I wake up to a dog licking my fingers. All is right in the world.
After breakfast we load up and head out to 1000 acre dog park and splash around in the mud. She's in her happy place.