Rebecca Anderson writes, "Through a series of strange events our dog became confused and took off running from near 580 up into the Oakland hills. This was very unusual, as he has never wandered away. It’s not often that these stories have happy endings, but this one did.
"We live in a small town in the foothills and I was extremely worried and upset over whether our 12-year-old confused Jake could navigate or survive in the city until we found him.
"Luckily Jake, was also searching for us. How we found him has taught me never to underestimate the kindness of strangers and the intelligence of a dog.
"The afternoon before Jake ran off, my adult son had taken him for a long walk along the Oakland Estuary near Edgewater by the Oakland airport. Four days after Jake disappeared and 1 day after two attentive people spotted him trotting through Piedmont, we found an ad on Craigslist posted by a man who had found a dog swimming to Alameda while sailing in the Estuary.
"We believe Jake was trying to find his way back to where my son had walked him. The amazing thing is that Jake had to somehow cross two freeways before he even found the estuary. This is a dog that has been taught to come stand next to us on the street when a car approaches and has had no experience whatsoever with traffic. Swimming is not foreign to him, but to have the energy to swim halfway from Oakland to Alameda after being on his own for three days is quite amazing.
"Thank you to the gentleman who was kind enough to pull Jake into his boat and for recognizing that the tags on his collar showed he had a family that would surely be missing him."
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