Or, more accurately, I found that the hound had been found.

Not a day goes by where we don’t hear about the perils of social media. PR disasters. Missing children. Bad judgment leading to getting fired. Clearly, the socially-enabled world can be a double-edged sword.

But sometimes, six degrees of social media actually comes in handy.

This is Pete, a cute little Boston Terrier. Although I’ve never met Pete, I know he belongs to some friends who live in an adjoining neighborhood.

This is Pete, a Boston Terrier.

When I saw a post on my Facebook wall that Pete had gone missing a few days ago, I was concerned (who doesn’t hate seeing a missing best friend) but I didn’t really know how to help. Especially since Pete was not wearing a collar or microchip.

Who doesn’t feel terrible when they see a pup go missing?

Then, this morning, I saw another post. This one in my neighborhood’s community site, which said that a small Boston Terrier was found by a neighbor on my street. Apparently Pete got spooked by the New Year’s fireworks and ran out of his back yard, into our neighborhood.

Then I saw this message on our neighborhood’s community website.

When I read this, I knew that Pete was safe. Luckily, I had seen both posts and immediately connected the dots. I contacted my friends and they came to pick up Pete. Reunion complete, and happy families all around.

A simple example of successful social connections, to be sure. But this time, social media came to the rescue!