Truly thankful for rescuing my dog with nine lives

Christmas is a time to be thankful and this past one was no exception for me.
On December 21st we put out our last paper of the year and at the end of the day carried on a tradition 16 years old; we had our annual Christmas party.
We close up the shop and have a few glasses of cheer and then proceed to our coworker’s home, Linda Johnston, right across the street. Then we usually walk down the street to Anne Mailloux’s and eventually to my place. However, this year the weather was bitterly cold that day and we opted to just go to Linda’s for the evening.
Every year my dogs come to the party as they are at the office almost as much as we are and I am sure would argue they work just as hard as us; albeit their work involved begging for treats at coffee time, not putting out the paper every week.
Well we left the office and went over to Linda’s. Both dogs followed off their leashes which rarely happens. Navy, the youngest of the two quickly went up Linda’s steps and into the house. Odie, who had a bad back rarely goes up stairs anymore. But he surprised me and managed to go up them fairly easily. Everyone piled into the house, well at least we thought

everyone did.
Odie usually goes and finds a place away from the noise to sleep and we assumed he had done that. It was two hours later that we discovered he had not made the last jump (step) into the house and had been left outside. Panic set in as we searched the house and eventually we walked up and down the street, thinking he must have tried to go home, in search of him and calling him.
Being old, his hearing, sight and back are not too good, so I figured that he was a goner, unless someone had seen him and let him in to keep warm.
Then just by chance, Lance Lindal, owner of Radio Shack, pulled up in his truck and Anne Mailloux who was just outside searching asked him if he had seen Odie. Lance said he had seen a dog over by the curling rink. He invited Anne to get in and they took his truck over there and found the old fella curled up in a snowbank trying to keep warm. Thank you so much Lance and everyone who searched for him.
He shivered in my arms for about 20 minutes and before long he was begging for treats like nothing had happened. He truly must be a bit cat and have at least nine lives.
–Until then, Ken