Welcome to the forum, FireRaye. It's nice to meet someone else who's had a Schipperke. But when Dagger took off on you? He wasn't lost, just making a break for it! Those little black devils love to go adventuring. Unfortunately, they're not as good about coming home. Very few can ever be trusted off leash. And 14 isn't an unusual age at all for a Schip. Several of mine have lived to 15, and one made it to 16. My British Schipperke book mentions one Schip that lived to age 27 - supposedly a true story! I'd like to see one of mine get anywhere close to that age.