Dog Owner Frantic Over Missing Senior Pet Finds 'Popular' Pup Making Friends at a Milwaukee Bar

"They took good care of him, and I guess he was pretty popular," the Shih Tzu's owner, Jenny Hazard, said her dog's big night out

A senior dog in Milwaukee had a big night out!

The pup, a 16-year-old Shih Tzu named Bear, belongs to Jenny Hazard, who said her pet has always been a lover of adventure, WITI reported.

"When he was younger, he was a runner," she told the Milwaukee outlet.

On the evening of Jan. 24, Bear returned to his runner roots, disappearing from Hazard's backyard just as the sun was setting.

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With the backyard gate open and Bear nowhere to be found, Hazard began frantically searching for the pooch.

"After about 15 or 20 minutes, I was just in tears… because he's old, he's got a heart condition," Hazard recalled of the moment to WITI.

"He can't go far in snow," she remembered thinking." I'm like, 'Where could he have gone?'"

Hazard took to the streets to look for her beloved Bear and started a full-blown search on social media. Soon after starting her search for the dog, Hazard discovered Bear had slipped out for a bit to a local tavern.

"We get a text. They said, 'Your dog is down at Finks,'" Hazard told WITI about getting a message that her missing pet was at a Milwaukee bar. "I'm like, 'What?'"

And sure enough, there he was.

Related: Mich. Officer Enlists Dog to Help Rescue Owner, Who Fell Into Frozen Lake

The person who spotted Bear sent a photo of the smiley Shih Tzu hanging out with patrons of the bar, which is located a mile from Bear's home, to Hazard's phone.

The pet parent remembered feeling positively relieved but also confused because — in her own words — "What's he doing at a bar?"

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She later learned that a group of barhoppers had seemingly scooped the Shih Tzu up off of the street and brought him along to their stop at Finks.

"They took good care of him, and I guess he was pretty popular," Hazard said.

"Old man breaks free — goes to bar," she jokes of the pup, who is now home safe and sound.

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