Missing dog with a past reunited with his owner

Sebastian the lost dog had a little in common with the hare in a well-known children's story.

The hare had the tortoise whooped, so he took a nap.

Sebastian, a veteran street dog who had found a home, secured his freedom Nov. 15 when he scooted out the back door, through an open gate and ran away.

But Sebastian the Chow is 12 years old, and Saturday around noon he was taking a nap in a sunny field, a mile or so from the home he had ditched.

Two hours earlier, "about eight crazy women and two

adolescents," according to Debra Griggs, one of the women, had gathered to conduct an FBI-style sweep of the area where Sebastian was last spotted.

They traipsed through fields and woods that whole cold morning, and then they spotted him.

"As old dogs do," Griggs said, "he was asleep."

They snuck up on him. They were armed with a catchpole and a dog catcher's mitt.

"What we got him with was none of that," Griggs said.

One of the women ran and tackled him.

"I wish I had a camera," Griggs said.

Sebastian had once roamed Norfolk's streets for six years without being captured, but he didn't resist once the women put the wraps on him. They snapped on leashes and walked him out of the woods.

Back at his home with his adoptive mother Betty Rouse, Sebastian gobbled down a bowl of kibble.

Then he flopped down on his bed.

It's good to go on vacation, but nice to get back home.

Lon Wagner, (757) 446-2341, lon.wagner@pilotonline.com