Safe returns

CAL LANOUE pets Irma, a 5-year-old Vizsla who along with her daughter, Robin, put a scare into the Andy and Connie Lanoue family recently. Photo / Per Peterson

This is a tale about Irma and Robin, a pair of related and talented Vizslas — a Hungarian pointing breed — that belong to the Andy Lanoue family.

One day in late March just after Old Man Winter delivered us a late-season wintry blow, 5-year-old Irma and her 8-month old daughter, Robin, decided to take a walk and explore the countryside.

They had no awareness of when they’d return or whom they were leaving behind; they are dogs, after all, and were only thinking about their next steps and what lay ahead. Maybe they can find some birds to scare up? Perhaps a rogue raccoon to hunt down and kill?

But their owners, who live a few miles west of Tracy, are humans, and humans worry, especially after a whole day passes.

See more in this week’s paper!