I have to put my $0.02 in here. I have a dog (that lives with my folks, because Deeps has a cat), once my mom accidentally left the dog outside and went out for the day (their yard is not fenced and backs on to hwy #5), when my mom came home the dog ran from the backyard and was happy to see her, but the dog I guess never left the yard. So not all dogs wander off. The dog we picked up however looked lost, wandering slowly and just sniffing randomly like she was trying to find the scent of the way home. When I went over to her she seemed real happy to see someone. They didn't tell us how long she was gone for but she was wet and had lots of burrs in her fur and smelled alot like urine. So hopefully we didn't just cost someone unnecessary $, but that being said, Deeps has had to pick his cat up at the pound because someone thought he was lost, even though he was behind our house.