Years ago , I was at work . My husband was home , and the gas guy came into the yard to read the meter . And left the gate open . And my husband , not being as paranoid as I am at least back then , didn ' t check to make sure it was closed . Anyway , he fed the dogs and let them out . One ran back to my old house , which was two blocks away . One got to the front yard , and lay down and fell asleep . And one walked around the corner and a few streets down , and wound up at PetCo . Luckily for him , someone saw him and called animal control . Also luckily , he was chipped . He wasn ' t wearing a collar , so he had no tags , but he did have a chip . And when he walked into local shelter , they automatically scanned him , and found the chip . They knew that he wasn ' t a stray . I mean , they knew it anyway , but having a chip meant they knew for sure . I can ' t imagine if someone there would have decided that he was a homeless waif , based entirely on he had no collar , and he was at PetCo by himself . He was a great dog , very outgoing and happy , good looking and friendly . Anyone could have decided to take him home , and I would never have known what happened to him .