What seemed like a good idea at the time turned out to be the longest 30 or 40 minutes of my life.

The good idea was to let my buddy Caleb run loose on a park road that is closed to vehicular traffic during the winter.

I had done this on a number of occasions without any issues.

On this particular evening, however, I encountered one of the scariest situations of my life.

Somehow Caleb disappeared into the dark woods bordering the road and went missing for 30 or 40 minutes.

I’ve been walking Caleb twice a day for 8 years now and almost never let him off leash. On the rare occasions when I do let him run loose, he almost never strays more than 10 or 20 feet from me and always comes back within a minute or less of being called.

So when Caleb disappeared into the darkness and didn’t come back after 2 or 3 minutes of being called, my heart began to sink.

When I stepped over to the spot where I had last seen him and saw a steep, rocky ledge and the frozen lake below, my heart sank even further.

I was afraid to look below but knew that I had to. Making matters worse was the fact that it was pitch dark and I didn’t have a flashlight.

I held onto tree trunks and branches as I made my way down the steep ledge. I was both relieved and panicked to not find Caleb anywhere down below.

I continued to call for him as I made my way back up the ledge, but to no avail.

Back on the road, I decided to run the quarter-mile or so back to my car and get a flashlight so that I could better see where I was searching.

As I ran I continued to call for Caleb but there was no sign of him. He wasn’t back at the car, either.

Back at the spot where he had disappeared, I continued my search, this time with two flashlights. I was afraid of what I might find but knew that I had to look.

After another ten minutes or so of searching and calling in vain, two women who were walking through the park stopped to help in my search. A man who was walking his dog on the frozen lake below did the same.

After the four of us searched for another 10 minutes or so without any luck, I decided to call the authorities. I was directed to animal control, who told me that they’d be to the park in about 5 minutes. I told them where I’d parked, what kind of car I was driving, and where Caleb had gone missing.

I searched and called for my dog for a few more minutes and then decided to walk back to my car to meet animal control.

As I made my way there, I was met about halfway by someone coming toward me with a flashlight.

“Are you Wade?” they asked.

“Yes I am,” I replied.

“I think we have your dog,” the person replied, as I noticed that he was an animal control officer.  “Does he have a big white belly?”

“Yes he does,” I replied, with a huge sigh of relief. “Where did you find him?”

“He was sitting by the back bumper of your car,” the officer replied.

I don’t remember my exact response but it was something like, “Holy crap! I can’t tell you how relieved I am.”

Overjoyed is more like it. In a span of 30 or 40 minutes, I went from feeling like my world had ended to feeling that I was the luckiest person alive.

Four days later and I am still catching my breath and counting my blessings.

Some lessons I learned through the harrowing experience are:

*Dogs are a lot smarter than we often give them credit for. How Caleb found his way back to my car in the pitch dark is pretty impressive.

*Always carry a flashlight on a dog walk in the dark.  I almost always do so but of course on the night that I really needed one I had forgotten to bring one along!

*Dogs can be real escape artists so we should always keep them in our sight.

*When walking a dog in the dark and/or a wooded area, a lighted and/or bell collar are a good idea.  After my experience I know that I am definitely going to be investing in a lighted collar for Caleb.

*Laws and safety devices may seem like a constraint at times but often they are the very things that protect us from harm. 

If I’d been following the city’s leash law while walking Caleb through the park that night, I wouldn’t have had to suffer through 30 or 40 of the longest, most agonizing minutes of my life.

Now I know more than ever that by keeping Caleb on leash when it’s best to do so, I can help to ensure that we are able to enjoy many more walks together. With a little less drama, I hope!