I'm not so sure that is the reason. A more likely scenario is that she got shut in somewhere. Like for instance, in our neighbor-across-the-street's garage. Except that he has never mentioned finding her shut in there. (He drives truck and sometimes is gone for a day or three. When he's home the garage door is typically open a crack, but he shuts it totally when he leaves. Except there was no correlation with Smudge-be-gone and neighbor's last trip..)
We lost a husky once when he was allowed out, and normally he came right back in. This time, he didn’t. He was wearing a black leather harness. On my way to get Igor from work three days later, we stopped by the shelter and asked if they had him. They said no, but a truck was coming in and we were welcome to stop it and check.
We did. He said he didn’t have but one dog and it wasn’t a husky. I said, “Let us see what you have, then.” It was Rusty the husky...without his black harness.
Which is why I thought maybe someone wanted Smudge...