Stephanie LaLand
A true story of friendship, sacrifice, and the unshakable bond between two devoted dogs
Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like pairs
of dogs you can find in most any neighborhood, these two loved each other together so often they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their respective houses.
One evening Brownie’s family noticed that Brownie had not returned home. At first,
they weren’t too concerned because he had disappeared before. Assuming he was just
out roaming, they didn’t look for him. But Brownie didn’t show up the next day and by
the next week he was still missing.
Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie’s house alone, barking, whining, and generally
pestering Brownie’s human family. Busy with their own lives, they just ignored the
nervous little neighbor dog. Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take “no” for an
answer. Ted, the father of the family with whom Brownie lived, was steadily harassed
by the furious, adamant little dog. Spotty followed him about, barking insistently, then
darting toward the empty lot and back as if to say, “Follow me! It’s urgent!”
Ted followed the frantic Spotty across the empty lot as Spotty paused to race back and bark encouragingly. The little dog led the man under a fence, past clumps of trees, to a desolate spot a half mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, one of his hind legs crushed by a steel leghold trap. Horrified, Ted now wished he’d taken Spotty’s earlier appeals seriously.
Then Ted noticed something quite remarkable.
Spotty had done more than simply lead Brownie’s human to his trapped friend. In a
circle around the injured dog, Ted had found an array of bones and table scraps-which
were later identified as the remains of every meal Spotty had been fed that week!
Spotty ad been visiting Brownie regularly, in a single-minded quest to keep his friend
alive by sacrificing his own comfort. Spotty had eveidently stayed with Brownie to
protect him from predators, snuggling with him at night to keep him warm and nuzzling him to keep his spirits up.
Brownie’s leg was treated by a veterinarian, and he recovered. For many years
thereafter the two families watched the faithful friends frolicking and chasing each other down the well-worn path between the houses.