Prodigal Dog?

This is a story about a prodigal dog. My dog, Ellie. (She's the one at the top) The dog on the bottom is Penny. She is a hero. This is her tale.

************** *********** **********

When Julie and I were visiting my folks in San Luis Obispo, we lost our dog, Ellie.

When I went to feed her one night, I called her, and she didn't come. There was my parent's Golden Retriever, Penny, but no Ellie.

Then I saw our side gate that was swinging open, and I knew that Ellie was long gone. It was almost 7 pm, which meant finding a black dog on a dark night in a large neighborhood. I also remembered that she had just lost her collar and identification tags and so if someone found her, there would be no way for them to get a hold of me. I started panicking.

Dad and I decided that we had to do this as rationally as possible...

We prayed.

And then, just as we were about to start splitting up to search the neighborhood, we noticed that Penny had run off. Not in the yard, not across the street. Oh, wait! There she is! Aghast, my dad and I watched her fluffy golden tail disappear around the corner.

"Penny!" we yelled, afraid that we were about to lose ANOTHER dog. "COME!" Angry, impatient, and frustrated that our rescue search is being delayed due to an old, half deaf dog, we finally scream, "PENNY! COME HERE!"

She stopped,

looked at us,

and then kept on trotting down the street.

Oh, it was on at that point. I, in the lead, start sprinting after this bitch, full tilt. I hear my dad running right behind me. As I run I'm blinded by my pain of losing my dog, anger at this disobedient mutt, and fear for how I'm going to tell my wife that I lost our precious pooch. I'm actually starting to tear up when all of a sudden, I hear Dad say, "She-- she found her! She found Ellie!"

To my amazement, there, in front of me was Ellie-- sniffing and playing with Penny like they had never been separated. My dog was found! Penny found my dog!!

Later we discovered what had happened: Ellie had gotten out of the backyard when my dad's paragliding student had accidentally left the gate open and was picked up by some kids in the neighborhood around 4:30 in the afternoon. They had been going around door to door for the last 2 hours trying to find the owner and had just about decided they were going to quit for the day when they heard us calling after Penny. The rest is history.

We gave Penny an extra helping of dinner that night. Way to go, miracle dog. Thank you, God.