Is that our dog?

I promise that I don't just write about dogs.  They've sure kept our lives interesting for the past few months though.

Ozzy went missing last night.  I had fed the dogs at 3:00 and Josh went to put them to bed around 9:00. So sometime between then, Ozzy found a spot in the fence where a board had come loose and slipped out of the yard.  Talon was in bed, so Josh went driving around a few times calling for him.  I was calling from the deck and felt that helpless feeling of when we lost Tito. I honestly didn't have much hope... If he was able to find his way back home he would have done it by this time.

I called Josh while he was out looking and he was stopped in front of a house just around the corner.  He said, "There's a dog on their porch that looks like it could be Ozzy but I can't tell."  He came and picked me up and we sat in front of that house debating whether or not to walk up and see if it was him.  We called out "Ozzy! Ozzy!" and he stood up but didn't have the reaction I would have expected.  If it wasn't him, then I would feel dumb going up to a stranger's dog on their front porch. But, if it was him, I would regret not checking it out.  Finally, I decided to walk over there and see.  His fur was soft like Ozzy's, he was friendly and licked my hand like he knew me, but then again Ozzy usually jumps when he sees me.  Oh and he's wearing a different collar.  Did I mention it was almost pitch black outside, which made it hard to decide if it really was him or not.

I went back to the car and said, "I can't tell if it's him because it's so dark, but he has him tied up with a different collar.  You should go look at him just to double check." "If he had a different collar then it's not him." ...I wasn't so sure, but ok. Oh and by the way Josh is usually right!!! I love him for it and being so gosh darn sexy!!! See what happens when I leave the blog up on the computer... Josh thinks he can add his 2 cents!

Anyways,
When we got home we called the police department to ask if they'd picked up any black labs. Nope. Looks like we're down to one dog again. I laid awake and worried about all the things that could have happened.  I couldn't help it.  Is it easier to keep hope that we'll find him or give up and move on? Neither option is really easy.

This morning we hurried out the door as soon as we were up and ready to go look for him. We drove past that house around the corner again. It looked like him, but black labs look like black labs.  He had on a different collar and we were looking at him from a distance. We just weren't sure. We drove all around town. By then, we were even more sure that Ozzy was gone for good.  He could have been anywhere!

Josh went out looking again later that morning. When he got back, we were both more discouraged than ever.  Then Josh's phone rang... it was the police department. "Hello?!" "Someone just brought in a black lab." "I'll be right there!" Well, it was Ozzy!  What's even better is that the dog we saw around the corner, that I actually walked up to and petted last night was Ozzy too! Our neighbor had caught him as he ran down the street, kept him in his house that night, put up posters in the gas stations the next day and then took him to the animal shelter.  We were so lucky! Thanks neighbor. :)

Now we're looking into microchips/tracking devices. Let's hope Ozzy didn't like his taste of freedom too much.  Apparently when there's a will, there's always a way!