What would you do if your dog ran away? Mine did and thankfully I was able to ge  

Mine got away twice before. I just opened the front door and she dashed out between my legs. Once was during the day and another time at night. The one that happened during the day was scary as we live close to a main road and there were many cars on the road at that time. She almost got hit by a car! But I managed to get a hold of her quickly that day. But the one that happened at night, that was scary cos' I had no idea where she went and it was so dark and I couldn't see where she went. I had to ask my neighbour to help me get her back. He went out and looked for her for 10 mins. Thank God she didn't go very far and came when my neighbour called out to her. She's not microchipped but she's got her tag on all the time. My biggest worry when she escapes is that she's going to get hit on the road. I'm just glad we got her back safely both times.

i would feal really bad becuase some people really love their dogs it's like a real child

My guys are micro-chipped. They are also trained to leave the yard only if called. So even if the gate is left open, they will not leave the yard until given permission. It took a bit of time to train them, but it is well worth it. As I am sure you realize.

I am glad you got your pups back, I know that they are member of the family just like any other person.

My dog has passed on now but, when we moved to our current home, we were happy to have a fully-fenced yard for him. I would let him out in the a.m. to do his business and he'd play a bit and then come right back in. However, one morning, the gate was open and I didn't know (a contractor that was working for us used the gate and didn't latch it securely).

Anyway, I went out to get the dog and he didn't come when I called. I felt that same punch in the gut, heartsick feeling of realizing he was gone. In all his years, he'd never run before -- and he picked a strange neighborhood to do it! We'd been walking him on a leash but he certainly wasn't familiar yet.

I walked the block, calling his name, and nothing. A retired fellow came out and asked if I'd lost my dog and I said I had. He asked for a description and then kindly got in his car and said he'd looked farther away while I covered the nearby streets on foot.

I was in tears when I couldn't find him. I called the dog catcher and they didn't have him. I called the police station and no one had reported finding him. Everyone promised to call me back if he showed up.

I went back outside awhile later and who comes running up the street?!?!? YEP! It was him!!! Turns out the gentleman in his car spotted him far from home and running like a bat out of hell towards the shopping center, of all places. He tried to get him in the car by calling him by name. The dog stopped but wouldn't get in the car. Somehow, he got him turned around and running back in the direction toward home. He drove either alongside or behind him and kept calling to him by name, trying to encourage him back. By the time he got to the end of our street, I was able to call him and he heard my voice. He bolted right to me!! He was exhausted and really panting... I mean, he was an old dog and I don't think he'd done that much full-tilt running in a very long time.

I couldn't thank my neighbor enough! He wouldn't accept any "reward" so, later that day, we bought a nice dessert from the bakery and took it over to him and his wife. Without him, we'd have lost our "little old man" that we loved dearly. He wasn't micro-chipped but he had his license that is required by our town so anyone that found him could have him identified by number. I only hope that they would have done so.

Something like that also happened to me a while back. I had two dogs, like know, and they where in my grandmas house. And at a point we decided to go walk them and we found out that they where missing. We went looking for them and we found the older one (she was about 1 and a half years old) just around the corner. But we where not able to find the other one anywhere...
She was missing for 2 weeks, we started to spread adds all over the place, in stores, supermarkets, newspapers, radios, and suddenly one day someone called my mother saying that they saw the add on the newspaper and that they had found our dog. She was taken from the street one week after getting lost, and she spend the next week in that persons house. When she returned to my grandmas house and we went to pick her up she was very thin, she had hardly eaten, and she was so depressed, you have no idea. She is afraid of going to further know, and she only stays still if she manages to see me, otherwise she will move until she sees me. She is now 9 years old and she is a happy dog!

I'm so glad to hear you got your dogs back! That's awesome! Mine are still missing. Been missing since 11/17/06. They're the ones from my avatar in hopes some day some how I'll find them. My german shepherd has a microchip but the black lab doesn't. I was in the process in getting her one before she left. I miss them so bad and haven't given up. We now have two german shepherds in which we named them Hope and Faith because we hope Sissy and Candy will return and we have faith that they will.

I was happy to see that you were able to find your dogs after this scary event. I would be sad and scared too if I had a dog or dogs and they took off somewhere. This has happened with my parents in the past as our snouzer would run off if the door was left open for her to get out. We would end up searching our neighborhood as well as the neighborhood next to us. I ended up finding our dog in the neighborhood next to us a couple streets down. I do not think she would have found her way back. It was a relief finding her. She did have a tag on so somebody may have returned her if we had not found her.

I have never had an experince such as yours. Yes, one of our dogs loves to excape but she has not managed to get past the neighbors yard. What happened to you is a fear of ours. I have an older dog that is thriteen years old. He doesn't wear tags and he also isn't micro-chipped either. We have two German Shepards mix that we got from the Humane Society both of them are micro-chipped. Thank goodness because its one of the German Shepards who likes to escape. An just yesterday we got a Irish Setter (we think) from the local dog pound. He is going to visit the pet next week, I will probably have a micro-chip placed in him as well.

There was a happy ending to your story. Im so glad for you. I dont have a dog but years ago I did. And yes she always had her tags on. I have 3 cats and just a couple of days ago one slipped out the door. Usually when that happens if I dont grab them they will always come to the front door. Not this time my little Blackie has been missing for days now. Im so upset.

I know people who have their pets microchipped...but I don't have my cat micro-chipped.

Cats tend to take tags adn collars off, I know mine doens't like her collar very much, but tolerates it.

And a neighbor's cat of mine used to take them off as fast as she would get them.....

My cat is an inside cat, and I will take her outside but I hold her so she doesn't get away.

But I know how it is to have pets disappear for a time, even cats that you try to keep inside.

Mooch