Wait...I know this dog?

I was driving home. As I pulled onto the street toward my house, I noticed in my rearview mirror, something big and black in the road. It occurred to me that it was a dog, laying in the shade of a tree in the middle of the street. I drove over, got out of my car, and walked up to the dog (a lovable black lab) who was all too happy to continue laying in the street wagging his tail. I walked him to the sidewalk, looked at his collar, and called the number. The woman who answered became very concerned, primarily because she lived in Florida, 1700 miles away. She began having a conversation with another person, and I overheard the name of the dog, "Tracer." </p> <p>It then occurred to me. A year before, I had spent the summer working in Alabama with my sister's father-in-law. He and his wife had a dog named "Tracer," a black lab, and they had since moved from Alabama to Florida. Could this be their dog? I live in the southwest, how did he get 1700 miles from home? I looked closer, and sure enough I knew this dog. Moreover, I knew the owner. I had known them since before they moved to Alabama, when they lived in my home city. On the phone I correctly guessed the name of the woman with whom I was speaking, and she was a bit shocked. </p> <p>But why was Tracer on my street instead of his home in Florida? As it turns out, because he was a big black lab, Florida's climate did not agree with him. He was getting older, and his owners thought it best to move him back to his original hometown. The plan was for the owners youngest son to take him in, but his apartment was too small. However his Fiancé's parents had a house, just down the street from where I lived, where Tracer ended up staying. Tracer had never been kept in a small yard, and took the opportunity to break out of his confines to the shady expanse in the middle of the street, where I happened to find him. </p> <p>That Christmas I had the pleasure to attend an extra Christmas party just down the street with neighbors I had never met, but I knew the dog.