Gus gave us the scare of a lifetime — he ran off! As parents, you never want to lose your child, and to us, Gus is our first child. I placed him in the yard because he wanted to play and chase squirrels and I had to give Laura some medical attention with a shot she had to take.

As I was giving her the shot, she heard him barking. However, the bark seemed to be coming from the street out front, not the back yard. I said, “Oh, your just imagining things.” But, to be sure, I looked out the back window. To my horror, I saw the back gate wasn’t closed!

My mind raced back to Alamo, my family’s first dog when I was a kid. He was a pure bred Irish Setter, and at six months old, got hit by a car when my cousins came to visit and unknowingly left the gate open. The last thing I wanted was for life to repeat itself this way. I ran downstairs, grabbed the car keys, and ran out the door. I yelled for him from the middle of the street, but never saw him so I took off for the car.

Laura stayed back home, crying and praying, praying and crying. I screamed out the car window, “Gus, Gus!” but never saw him. We live a block off of Main street and I could only imagine the worst. I passed some kids and their dad walking along the sidewalk of Main, and I asked them if they had seen a little brown doggie. The dad said yes, a little dog was in the middle of Main street and headed west. Oh my!

Our little guy had been in the middle of the busiest street and was still running, probably frightened and wondering where he was. Where was home? Where were mommy and daddy? How did I get here? What are these scary things running along the road? I could just imagine him thinking, “I want to be home!”

I circled the block and then passed the house again. To my immense relief, there I saw him, standing on the steps of the back porch, looking shaken and scared. As I pulled into the driveway to grab him up, his mother opened the back door and grabbed him. As tears streamed down her cheeks, she clutched him close. We were both angry and happy at the same time but we were also just glad he was safe.

Nothing could come between Gus and Laura at that moment, as she hugged him tightly. He knew he was safe and home, and we had our little guy back. We thanked God to have his precious gift back because we almost lost him that day. We realized just how quickly life can change, literally in an instant.

I examined the gate lock and realized that it wasn’t as secure as it should be so I installed a bolt that has to be lifted out of a hole before the latch will open. We won’t let an old latch scare us like that again. We are glad you are back, Gussie!