By Dave Wilson

Over the past few months on several occassions I've come across one of the neighbor's dogs out doing what I call a 'self-walk.' They spot an opening and away they romp. Thirty minutes later they have marked 50 trees and want a drink and their bed, but they are not sure where's home.

Usually, they are the bigger dogs of the community, Golden retrievers, black labs, hunting dogs, mixed breeds, even an American pit bull. Some are fairly scarey dogs. Often they are a little nervous about where they are and what they are doing. Most of the time I've been able to get them to walk with me to their own front door.

Never have they been carrying the ubiquitous photo ID, or wearing a collar with their rabies tags, license or even a Milk Bone ID tag. That could lead to expensive or worse results.

My first little black schnauzer did the self walk one day several years ago. And she didn't put her collar on before she left. Fairfax County Animal Control was where I found her several frantic days later. To bring her home I paid for a license, paid a fine for not having licensed her, paid room and board for her visit, and paid a veteranaian for a check up he gave her. (The nice people at the pound thought she looked ill.) It was a pretty expensive day.

The people at the pound said they knew I would show up to claim my pet. It was cute, friendly, well nourished and groomed. They would have kept it longer than the usual period, which is brief and terminal.