Editor, Gazette-Journal:

On Aug. 12 our dog Joy escaped through a side gate that was not completely latched. We adopted Joy, a hound mix, from a local shelter almost five years ago after she had been rescued from a pen where she lived with some other dogs but had no human contact. She was thin and extremely shy of people. Over the years she had become healthy and was happiest snoozing on the couch, but other than family she had continued to be very shy of people. So our biggest worry was that, although she was wearing her collar and county license and was microchipped, she would not go to anyone for help. 

Over the next two weeks we rode the roads, calling for her. We put up signs and distributed fliers; contacted the humane society, animal control, and the radio station; and put ads in the paper. We had a number of sightings, but she always ran off before we got there. Then last week a rescuer with XOXO Rescue saw Joy late at night on a busy back road and called me. When we arr...