The Saturday afternoon of "the dog incident" I was riding my bike down main street toward the video store when I had the feeling that I should look behind me. I did and saw a little black dog who looked just like Toto from the movie The Wizard Of OZ running behind me. I stopped my bike and he stopped his feet. I called him to me and he came trotting forward with his tail wagging and a big smile on his face. When he got close enough I could see he was full of sand burrs. He also had caked mud on his feet, legs, and undercarriage. I check for ID but the only thing he had on his collar was a city dog tag.
Since I had my bike I wasn't sure what to do with him and decided to take him into the video store to see if anyone in there recognized him. The woman in the store did not know who he belonged to but when I set him on the counter I accidentally flipped his tag over and saw that his owner's name was scratched into the back of it. The woman knew the name and gave the owner a call but there was no answer. She did know a relative and gave him a call. He said he would be happy to give the owner the message that his dog would be at my house.
Before I left the store we removed the sand burrs from the dog. This dog was so gentle he let me pry his jaws open so the store owner could put her hand in his mouth and pull out a sand burr. I realized I could not ride my bike home holding him so I carried him. We walked about four blocks and he loved every step of it. I think he could have got used to being carried very quickly. I wasn't sure how my dogs would react to him and I wasn't sure how he would react to my dogs so when I got to my house I gave him some water and a dog biscuit and then put him in one of the kennels in the back of the pick-up. His owner came by and got him about an hour later.
Two hours I was walking through the living room and glanced out the front window. As I did I saw Duke's back end flip over and up into the air and then disappear around the corner of the house. This usually means he had taken his stuffed bear outside to play with so I went out to bring it back in. Well, he wasn't playing with the bear he was playing with "Toto." They were chasing each other, wrestling, dancing, and having a great time. Judging from "Toto" looks he came back soon after he got a bath because he was very clean.
"Toto" lives about a mile northwest of town and his owner told me he loves to travel. Most of the time he goes to the River Walk and gets good and muddy and then comes home. Sometimes he follows people into town, which is probably what he had done when I saw him over by the video store. His visiting Duke was surprising because I didn't think they even noticed each other but I guess I was wrong. I let "Toto" stay until he and Duke had tired each other out and then drove him home. He stood in my lap looking out the window the whole way. When we got to his house I let him out and drove away. We haven't seen him since then but I would not be surprised if he got it into his head to visit again someday.
Until then we'll leave a light on for him.
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