History Main / TropeyComeHome

* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' has the episode "Zipper Come Home". The twist: Not only did Zipper, one of the team members and not a pet, [[TenMinuteRetirement decide to leave himself]] due to lack of respect from the other Rangers, but he ends up being the king of a bug tribe.

* Perry the Platypus in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Oh, There You Are, Perry!". ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMOdfwLNsSI The song for that episode is actually called "Come Home Perry"]].) In this case, Perry disappears because, unbeknownst to his owners, he's been reassigned to a different nemesis as part of his job as a secret agent, a situation which resolves itself and allows him to return.

%%* Perry the Platypus in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Oh, there you are, Perry!". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMOdfwLNsSI The song for that episode is actually called "Come Home Perry"]].

* In the ''Literature/{{Thora}}'' book ''The Incredible Crystals'', Thora's peacock Cosmo goes missing. Felicity helps Thora search. [[spoiler:He was abducted by Adelaide because peacock feathers are used in manufacturing squidgy dinosaurs. Thora and Felicity find him locked in a hangar with almost forty other naked peacocks.

* In ''Literature/RememberDippy'', Mem is walking home with Linguini the ferret when Dirk rides by on his bicycle, almost knocking over Johnny. Johnny jumps out of the way and bumps into Mem, who drops Linguini, who runs into the bushes. Mem is devastated. The protagonists search for her, to no avail. [[spoiler:Until Dirk writes two notes with a chocolate-scented marker and leaves them in the Dippy mailbox. Linguini, drawn by the smell, climbs into the mailbox, where Johnny finds her the next day.

-->-- "Gary's Song" (commonly known as "Gary, Come Home"), ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''

-->-- "Gary Come Home", ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''

* Pretty much the entire point of the short story "[[http://www.archive.org/details/lovelinessastor00phelgoog Loveliness]]" (1899) by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. The [[CharacterTitle titular dog]] is stolen and [[LittlestCancerPatient and his frail mistress]], heartbroken, wastes away during the several months when he is missing. He gets found and everybody gets better [[spoiler: and we learn that [[{{Anvilicious}} selling pets for medical experiments]] [[AndThatsTerrible is bad]] ]].

[[caption-width-right:281: [[TearJerker Have you seen this snail?]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': In [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS4E3HaveYouSeenThisSnail "Have You Seen This Snail?"]], Gary runs away to an old lady's house after [=SpongeBob=] forgets to feed him. A grief-stricken [=SpongeBob=] does everything he can to get Gary to come back home. Gary eventually sees [=SpongeBob=]'s pleas and decides to return home, helped by the fact that the old lady [[DeathByGluttony feeds her snails to death]].

[[quoteright:281:[[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wheres_gary.jpg]]]]

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', "Gary Come Home"

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': In "Have You Seen This Snail?", Gary runs away to an old lady's house after [=SpongeBob=] forgets to feed him. He comes back when it's revealed that the old lady [[AccidentalMurder accidentally killed]] her last snail by overfeeding her.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': In "Where's Gary?", Gary runs away to an old lady's house after [=SpongeBob=] forgets to feed him. He comes back when it's revealed that the old lady [[AccidentalMurder accidentally killed]] her last snail by overfeeding her.

Forgive me for making you want to roam.\\
Now my heart is beating like the saddest metronome.\\
Somwhere I hope you're reading my latest three-word poem:\\

[[ABoyAndHisX A boy/girl and his/her pet]] [[LoyalAnimalCompanion are nearly inseparable]], until the pet goes missing. For some reason, a character's pet will wander away from home, get kidnapped, or get himself lost some other way. This leads to two separate storylines. On one side, the pet is incredibly lost, scared, and desperately [[TheresNoPlaceLikeHome trying to get home]]. The second story will involve the humans dealing with the loss of their pet, either by [[{{Wangst}} feeling miserable]] or by actively [[IWillFindYou searching for them]]. In the end, the two parties will eventually reunite, maybe even with AnAesop or two.

* ''Literature/RainReign'': When Rose's beloved dog Rain goes missing during a hurricane, Rose frantically calls all the shelters in the are. [[spoiler:Rain's previous owners did the same thing, even making flyers, but she was never found because she'd been adopted by Rose's father.]]

* This trope comes up very frequently in the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' where [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky the]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesZeroNoKiseki heroes]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel have]] to find a lost cat and bring it back to the owner.

* The film ''Gypsy Colt'' which is basically a variation of Lassie Come Home, but with a horse instead of a dog -it even mirrors some of the scenes from the film it takes it's inspiration from - such as the horse trotting through the village to meet the child as she comes out of school.
* ''Hecks Way Home'' is another movie featuring a border collie trying to reunite with his family.

* The plot of ''[[Manga/TheNightmareBeforeChristmasZerosJourney Zero's Journey]]'' involves Zero getting lost in Christmas Town, with Jack sending Lock, Shock, and Barrel after him while he handles his duties in Halloween Town.

* One of the best known examples is the 1972 animated film ''WesternAnimation/SnoopyComeHome''. It starts out as a light-hearted look at the concept. At least, until [[spoiler:[[TearJerker Snoopy decides to go back to his original owner]].]] [[spoiler: And then Snoopy learns that his original owner lives in a pet-free apartment complex, so he says goodbye to Lila and returns to Charlie Brown.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'': Bolt is separated from the girl who plays his companion. The rest of the film shows his search for her while she tries and fails to work with his replacement.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'': Duchess and the kittens are kidnapped and misplaced by the butler, Edgar. They try to find their way home while their owner worried frantically about them.

* ''Film/HomewardBoundTheIncredibleJourney'': Two dogs, Shadow and Chance, and a cat, Sassy, belong to a family who's moving to the big city for work reasons, so they are left in a friend's farm. The animals don't understand what's going on and eventually run away in order to find their family and go back home, having to brave mountains and forests to do so. The family also makes efforts towards finding them once they hear the news.
** The sequel ''Film/HomewardBoundIILostInSanFrancisco'' features the same characters getting [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin lost in San Francisco]].

* ''Animal, Come Back Animal'' from ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'' fits here.
* The final segment of ''WesternAnimation/MickeysTwiceUponAChristmas'' had Mickey searching for Pluto, who had run away and ended up at the North Pole.

* The original story ''Lassie Come-Home'' (1938) by Eric Knight was adapted into the beloved 1943 film ''Film/LassieComeHome'', which is almost certainly the TropeNamer, and probably the TropeCodifier as well.
* ''Ribsy'' by Beverly Cleary: Ribsy is left in the Huggins' car in the mall parking lot. He pushes the button that opens the window and gets out of the car, but when he tries to find his way back he gets into the wrong car and another family takes him home. He spends the rest of the book finding his way back home.
* Pretty much the entire point of the short story "[[http://www.archive.org/details/lovelinessastor00phelgoog Loveliness]]" (1899) by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. The [[CharacterTitle titular dog]] is stolen and [[LittlestCancerPatient and his frail mistress]], heartbroken, wastes away during the several months when he is missing. He gets found and everybody gets better [[spoiler: and we learn that [[{{Anvilicious}} selling pets for medical experiments]] [[AndThatsTerrible is bad]] ]].

* A somewhat odd example appears in Creator/JamesHerriot's books - a farmer sadly sends off his old cow to the meat market, and when she breaks away from the herd and runs home, he is overjoyed and vows that she will never leave home again. Besides being in the original books, it was slightly edited for a children's story titled "Blossom Come Home".
* ''Literature/TheIncredibleJourney'', about two dogs and a cat crossing the Canadian wilderness to get home. This novel would form the basis for a 1963 film adaptation of the same name and, much later, ''Film/HomewardBoundTheIncredibleJourney''.

* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': When Buck runs away, half the show is him in the pound, the other half is the family finally noticing he's gone, trying to replace him, arguing about going to find him, then finally picking him up at the pound.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In the episode "Appa's Lost Days" we follow the kidnapped Appa fighting abuse, starvation, and loneliness as he tries to find Aang. For an episode about a character who ''can't even talk'' its incredibly moving.
* Perry the Platypus in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Oh, there you are, Perry!". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMOdfwLNsSI The song for that episode is actually called "Come Home Perry"]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'': Oscar,Trudy and Penny accidentally loses Sugar Mama's poodle, who is naturally upset about this until his return.
* ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'': Scooby Doo runs away after feeling unappreciated, and of course, everyone goes looking for him.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': "Where's Gary?"
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'':
** Spike leaves for an episode, for a long enough period for Stu to go through several new pets, including [[HilarityEnsues a tarantula and pair of gerbils.]] Subverted on the Spike half of the story, though: [[spoiler: He gets taken in by a rich old man, who eventually brings him home.]] The man at the pound the Pickles go to even says this is a pretty common thing there.
** Another episode has Angelica kick Spike out after he refuses to participate in a pretend wedding ceremony the same time Tommy and Chuckie send her doll Cynthia on a boatride... down a sewer drain. Spike finds the doll in a garbage dump and, remembering Angelica, decides to leave it. However, when he remembers Tommy, he snatches it and heads back. No one really realizes he was gone.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' episode "Abner come home".

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "Sunspot's Night Out", Sunspot goes missing in the neighborhood, and the gang tracks him using the North Star. Mitchell's dog Cody also went missing. Turns out, they were both performing in an animal choir.
** In "You Can Call Me Albedo", Cody runs away after Mitchell makes him wear a black sweater.
* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': In the episode "Phoenix Rises", Cricket's dog Phoenix runs away from home after sensing something, and the family (plus Remy) goes out to look for him. Ultimately, their search proves fruitless and the give up, but Phoenix returns home soon afterwards with what had caught her attention: Cricket's MissingMom, who has just been released from prison.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Subverted in the episode "Kevin Party", Steven puts up missing posters of Lion when he notices that Lion hasn't returned home for a few weeks and he needs him in order to visit Lars and the Off Colors who are currently stranded in space. It turns out Lion has been staying with Connie the entire time as he is angry at Steven for ignoring Connie's feelings over his surrender to Homeworld. Following Steven and Connie's reconciliation, Lion forgives Steven as well and returns home with him towards the end of the episode. The following episode "Lars of the Stars" shows that Lion is once again under Steven's care and is on good terms with him.

* This trope comes up very frequently in the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' where [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky the]] [[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki heroes]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel have]] to find a lost cat and bring it back to the owner.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Mittens’s being accidentally abandoned and subsequently found in “The Mall” qualifies as this. Penny even creates a lost cat poster trying to get her back.