I was driving home today during a snow storm after picking up my two small kids from daycare. About 500 yards in front of my car a big black and white boxer dog runs across the road into the nearby farm. He was gone by the time I had gotten to that area and did not even try to look for him. Being a dog owner myself I felt pain knowing that dog was long gone.

About an hour later my wife pulls into the driveway and call’s me from her cell: “There is a huge scary dog in our front yard!! Help!” No shit… it was the same dog! I go outside and see this huge black boxer sniffing around our front yard. I give him the old whistle and it comes running my way.

My first thought was “Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea… this dog is huge and is charging me!”. I took one step back as the dog runs right up to me, plops it’s butt on the ground and starts licking my hands! My life stopped flashing before my eyes and I started petting him. He was a very sweet dog, albeit huge. Eventually I checked his collar and sure enough he had full vaccine and owners tags. His name was “Shawn”. I called the number on the tag but it was disconnected. The address was about a mile away so I hooked him to my dogs leash and lead him into my car. Remember the kids from before? This huge dog decided to plop himself down in my 1 year old son’s car seat. Uhm… sure, you can stay there buddy.

I get to the owners house and lead him up the driveway. About half way to the house he just stopped. When I say “stopped” I mean he had all his bulk set on not moving an inch. I tried petting him and coaxing him along but he wanted nothing to do with it. After a few minutes he turns around, wiggles out of his collar and bolts!! The only thing going through my head is “Uhm… this dog is lost again, but this time doesn’t have a collar on him, and it’s my fault… NOOOOO!!.” Not wanting to be the bearer of bad news I started trudging through the foot high drifts of snow after Shawn. I see him a couple times but he doesn’t respond to my calls and whistles. After a few minutes I can tell he’s long gone again… I walk back to the house and ring the doorbell.

A younger man answer’s the door and was honestly shocked Shawn had run away. I told him the story about how he wriggled out of the collar and I was so sorry I couldn’t get him back. The owner just said he’d get his boots on to start looking but that I should go home. I offered to help, but he genuinely wanted none of it. I drove around the block anyways a few time’s but didn’t see any sign of Shawn.

Here is where this story get’s crazy… As I’m pulling into my driveway I see a dark shadow near my front door. I think it’s a package or something I missed earlier, better go and get it. I round the corner and… Shawn is sitting right next to my front door!
This dog ran away from his house, was found, stood his ground, and ran all the way back to my house! I just started laughing. Even better I opened up my car door and he just jumped right in!!!

I drove Shawn back to his owners house as he sat in my son’s car seat again. I went up to the owner who was surprised to see me so soon. I tell him I have a present in my car. He was speechless! The owner just picks up this huge dog and Shawn basically started licking his face off. I saw a little girl in the house start screaming and jumping when she saw Shawn. I’m not sure if that might be the reason he ran away… but at least he has a warm home that loves him.

TL;DR: Find a stray dog, lose stray dog, stray dog finds me, I save the day.