In the afternoon I walk my dog down to the lake. She is 13 years old and has lost the urge to swim, so she merely stands and luxuriates in the water. I do not share her love of cold water, so I let her off leash for her plunge.

Mazie gets spooked when she hears load noises. And that day, there were gunshots coming from some distant location. Instead of walking into the water, she trotted off down a trail on the shoreline.

I followed after her but I could not find her, so I walked up and down Main Street looking for her but to no avail.

I walked home to get my truck, and just as I walked in the door, the phone rang. A Good Samaritan had found Mazie on Main Street and brought her to the animal shelter.

I raced over to the shelter and the front desk called to the kennel to bring up my dog. As the agent approached, I could not see her coming down the hall, but, something was amiss. I only heard two feet shuffling down the hall, I should have heard six.

Soon, the mystery resolved itself: the agent was carrying a dog, and the dog was the same color as Mazie, but about 75 pounds lighter, and thus could be picked up and carried.

Another agent soon came out with the real Mazie, looking just as happy as if she had good sense. I was happy to reunite with my dog, but my jubilation was short-lived: “That will be $78.”

Forty of that was kenneling. I was thinking that Mazie had been in the shelter for an hour, so the daily rate would compute to $960!

Mazie had had her rabies shots, but she apparently needed some other vaccine. In addition, there was a $20 fine for the expired license. I had always paid my license fee when it arrived in the mail, but I had moved, and so I did not get the bill.

In fairness, the staff at the shelter did their due diligence: the phone number on the ID tag was old, but they were able to make out the name of my vet on the rabies tag, and got my number from her.
 
The good news is that I am reunited with my dog. I doubt that she learned anything from this experience.

Nelson Strasser lives in Lakeport, Calif.