As a bit of a footnote, a business associate of mine, Lynn, operates a chapter of a Goldy rescue club. I shared Mason's story with her today. This is her response (just before knowing Mason found the path back home)
 Quote:
This is so sad, Brett. We run into this up here with our seniors also. What I normally do is contact the breed club and check out their rescues. Normally the national clubs give the local rescues money to pay for this kind of stuff. Here’s the link to the lab club http://www.thelabradorclub.com/subpages/searchrescue.php I’m pretty sure if they contact the main club they will get one of the lab rescues to help. Seniors are the most special of special.