Lost and Found Dog

It happened about 25 or 30 years ago. One day, I heard a scratching at the door. Curious, I went to the door and opened it. An English Setter I had never seen before smiled at me, then happily trotted through the door, went straight to the den, and hopped up on the recliner.

Well Hello! Come in and make yourself at home! *blink*

I went and took a good look at him. He was freshly groomed. I had him move around some. His stance, his build, the way he walked… everything about him screamed “Show Dog”!

The dogs around this rural community were (and are), mostly mutts, cow dogs and lap dogs. I didn’t know of anyone who might have a show dog like this.

I called the little gas station across the highway, which was (is) a social hub for the community. I asked if they knew of anyone who was missing a bird dog. No, they didn’t. Could you ask around about it? Yes, they would do that.

News travels very fast here. By the next day, everyone within ten miles knew I was looking for the owner of a bird dog. Nobody knew of anyone who was missing one.

For the next several days, I took good care of that dog. Fortunately, my own dog didn’t seem to mind the unexpected guest.

Then came a knock at the door. I opened it to see an older man standing there. “Are you the one who found a…” But Furry Guest heard that voice and came bouncing up to the door. It was a happy reunion. The man then recounted his story.

He was on his way to a dog show- I don’t remember where he said he came from or what city he was traveling to. When he reached his destination, he discovered the dog was no longer in his kennel in the back of the SUV.

This is what I find very strange. In a few hundred miles of driving, he never checked on the dog? He didn’t take it out to go potty, or check it’s water?

At any rate, he had to backtrack the route he had traveled. Everywhere he had stopped on his journey, he stopped again and asked around to see if anyone had seen his dog. He would spend a day or more at each stop, knocking on doors, and driving around the area calling the dog. When he got here, he remembered stopping at that gas station, so he went in there to ask, and got directed to my house.

What I find remarkable is how the dog found me. He could have gone down the road behind the gas station where he would have had a choice of several houses, but apparently he crossed the highway to make a beeline for my house.

I’m just glad it was a happy ending.

Since I don’t have a photo of the dog, I found an image of an English Setter to use as the featured pic for this post.