Missing my dog :(

This is my dog Snoopy. I should say, "our" dog, but often I feel like he's mine really. Bathing duties fell to me, usually, and since my parents moved out, I usually fed him. But above all, he was the first one to greet me when I came home and the last one who would look at me with that "You're going out?" look when I would leave the house.

But why is most of this in the past tense? My beloved dog has been missing for 3 days now. He ran out of our yard while a visitor pulled into our driveway and the family members who were outside did not keep an eye on him or close the gate behind the car that had pulled in. So, although he's about 8 and a half, almost 9 years old, I'm told he took off down the street quite quickly. I suppose he's not ready to be a senior dog as of yet.

It has been a sad weekend for us, walking the neighborhood and driving around, and then today we started posting flyers. The hardest moments for me are when I come home and night and there is no Snoopy greeting me at the gate, hearing me tell him to move away from the driveway as I pull in, sticking his nose into my open car door, leaning on me with his paws propped up on my legs before I get out sniffing all the different scents inside my car, perking up his ears at any rustling noise I make that might signify a tasty treat for him, trailing me from car to front door, sitting patiently while I look for my house key and looking at me with those eyes that make it impossible not to pet him before I enter the house. I miss the behaviors that are uniquely his - discovering holes in the yard that he has dug overnight, half-buried empty plastic water bottles, or avoiding me when given a chew toy because he wants to bury it but only when my back is turned. He never chewed on any rawhide or chew toys that I have bought him - instead he's always taken them out of my sight to bury them because he has learned that I prefer he chew it rather than bury it.

Yes, this is the dog that I miss..... And I wonder where he is. Has someone found him and decided to keep him? Or is he wandering from place to place in our neighborhood? It is a sad, sad situation.... and I miss him a lot. :( I really hope we can find him, or he finds us....