I don't think he knew he was lost

On labor day, Travis and I took a one-night camping trip to Carmen Reservoir, which is in the Willamette National Forest. We took Squishy and Cinderley with us. When we got their we did some fishing and took the dogs out on the boat with us. Neither dog had ever gone boating before, but they did great. After fishing, we set-up camp and then took a hike with the dogs to a couple of falls that are part of the McKenzie River, which flows into the reservoir. The hike was about a mile round-trip and it was along the river. Seeing as how we showed up the day everyone else was packing up to go home, by the end of the day there was only one other family camping at the campground. That night, the dogs slept in the tent with us, like they always do, and we all slept peacefully in the quite forest.

The next morning the dogs wanted to get up before we did. So we tied Squishy and Cinderley up with a cable that was attached to our pick-nick table, and we went back to sleep. We got up about 30-45 minutes later. Travis got out of the tent and then yells "Squishy's gone!" Squishy, the big lug, broke the cable (which is rated for 200 lbs). I quickly got dressed and we both went wandering around the empty campground with Cinderley, yelling squishy's name. We walked around the campground two or three times, I talked to the one other family camping there, who also had dogs, but they hadn't seen Squishy. Our search then got serious, Squishy could be found no where! We are out in the middle of the forest, on the last weekend before the campground closes for the winter, and we lost our dog. I then loaded Cinderley up in the truck and drove down to the reservoir, and Travis hiked down the hill along the creek. At the reservoir there was construction at the bridge that crosses the river, I see a construction worker and jump out of my truck, "Have you seen a big black dog with a red collar? I have lost him, he's a Rottweiler". The man responded with "Is he nice?" "Yes, he won't hurt you, if you see him let me know, we are staying up at the campground." Mean while Travis is hiking the trails that lead down to the reservoir, more than once. I then take off up the road to the upper falls that we hiked to the day before. When I get there, a car just left, I jump out and start to do a fast-walk/jog down the 1/2 mile trail leading to the campground, shouting my puppy's name. I get to the lower falls, and I cross paths with a couple of older ladies. The first thing they asked is "Did you run here?" They were the car that had left the upper falls when I pulled in, and they remembered seeing me. "No, it was more of a fast walk, I'm looking for my dog." I tell them my story but they hadn't seen Squishy either. I then took another trail that led back to the upper falls where I had to retrieve the truck with Cinderley in the back. Still no sign of Squishy, about an hour has lapsed, and there's no telling how far Squishy has traveled by now. Before driving around some more, I decided to go back to camp. When I got there, Travis and Squishy were both at camp. What a relief! Apparently Travis was on his way back to check camp and Squishy was already there. Travis startled Squishy and he started barking like a big bad dog guarding his territory, like he had never left. What a silly dog, I bet he didn't even know he was lost! Where he went, we will never know, we looked everywhere for an hour, and when he was ready, I'm sure he was able to find us in less than 5 minutes. My gut feeling told me he'd come back, but at the same time I couldn't just sit there and wait.