DOGGED

A feel-good story for you, this holiday weekend, brought to you by C and his dogs:

C has three dogs. Two of them, Holly and Pete, are from the same litter and are 13-years-old. Then there is the more rambunctious Darby, who is a lab and is a little bit younger. I have grown fond of his dogs, I guess. We were a cat family. The dogs we did have were outside dogs. So, when I am at his house, I have learned to share space fairly well with three silly doggies, considering I'd never done before in all my 25 26 years.

A while back, Pete snuck out of the yard and didn't come back. C was beside himself (don't tell the other two but Pete is his favorite). He showed up at a vet a few days later, and he had a chip put in him.

No dog drama since then until last week, when we got back from Vegas and two days later, Holly disappeared. Where could she be? She's been known to wander down the street when the gate was open, but she comes back. C went up and down the street and all around trying to find her when he realized she never came back. This was last Wednesday.

He checked the pound, called the vets, no sign of Holly. I figured she had gone off to that great big backyard in the sky. I mean 13 years is old in dog world, right? I think he, too, had finally come to grips with Holly's departure.

Until yesterday morning, when apparently, Holly was waiting at the back door for him when he left to go to work. That dog was gone a WEEK and came back! I'm sure she wasn't on the go the whole time. I highly believe she was in someone's backyard and managed to escape, just like she did from C's backyard.

But, being the imaginitive people we are, we like to think she's been on vacation. Maybe she went to the beach. Maybe the mountains? Maybe the Hamptons? Maybe Paris to hang out with Mr. Claude?

The dog came back. But where do you think she went?