What Would You do if You Found a Lost Dog?

This past weekend, I was driving out of my neighborhood when I saw a dog wandering along the sidewalk with no people around.

Even though it's against township ordinance, people do walk their dogs off of their leashes in my neighborhood at times, so at first I thought that might be the situation. But when I saw the dog start to wander into the street, I knew I had to do something.

I pulled over and approached the dog slowly, while speaking in a friendly tone. When I saw his tail start to wag, I figured that he was friendly enough to approach.

Thankfully, "Max" was wearing a collar and tags. I gave a call to the phone number on his ID tag, but there was no answer.

Not wanting to leave him wandering the neighborhood, and possibly get hit by a car, I opened my passenger door and he, unprompted, hopped right into my back seat, and I put the address on his tag into my GPS.

Thankfully he wasn't too far from home.

When I knocked on the front door, the family didn't even realize that he had gotten out, but were friendly and grateful that I brought him home.

The lessons from all of this - always keep identification on your pets. If you have a pet that either doesn't wear a collar or who's collar you remove, you should definitely have them microchipped. Most veterinary clinics and animal shelters offer low cost or even free microchipping, and it could make the difference between having your best friend returned safe and sound, or losing them forever.

Have you ever found a lost pet? How did you handle it?