I recently took a short trip to San Antonio to visit family friends. We have a Jack Russell Terrier at home that we decided to leave behind.

My girlfriend who lives down the street offered to dog-sit for the weekend. Now, I consider myself a good friend and neighbor, so I TRIED to warn her that my dog is very active and is a jumper.

On Friday I got off work early, packed up the kids and hit the road. We arrived at our destination. The kids hadn’t seen each other in a while, so they stayed in with a sitter to catch up. The rest of us went out for a night on the town. While we were dining at P.F. Changs, my cell phone rang. It was my girlfriend back home in a complete state of panic.

“Steph,” she exclaimed, “You are going to hate me!” I tried calming her down to find out what was wrong, but she just kept repeating, “You are going to hate me!” Finally, she said, “I lost your doggie!”

I told her to calm down and then said, “Relax, no one wants my dog. She’s a Jack Russell Terrier.” She went on to tell me that she had briefly let the dog out into the backyard, briefly, while she went back inside to fill up the food bowls. When she came back to the yard, my dog was gone. He’d apparently pulled “Houdini” and had escaped from the yard! Of course, this was NOT uncommon! I went on to tell her that my dog was chipped and tagged, and that we would find her. No worries.

In the meantime, I decided to use the Safari app on my cell phone to search the “City” site, hoping that something would come up and … IT DID! Only a day after the “incident,” (on a Saturday) there it was – my little Houdini’s dog tag information in clear pixilated fashion listed among the refugees being housed by the city. All of this was right there on my phone!!!

I immediately called my exhausted girlfriend because, no doubt, she was still fretting. Upon arriving home Sunday night, I called the city, and (of course!) no pick up’s on the weekend. We had to wait until Monday to get my Houdini out of the CITY POUND! The fines were as follows: a $35 incarceration fee, and a $5 city registration fee. Of course having my little doggie back is priceless!