MissMay,
Animal abuse?
Then, the dog hardly escaped frm its nightmare u put it back again.??!! (kidding)
Maybe that could be the reason for dog itself running away from the terrible owner??? I don't knw, just proposed, maybe the dog thought of " I wanna run away and get rid of my owner "
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Maybe you can pretend to have a walk around your area and do some undercover investigation? hehe..