A Friend in Need
Cookie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like a pair of dogs you can find in most any neighborhood , these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their respective houses.
One evening, Cookie’s family noticed that Cookie hadn’t returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Cookie didn’t show up the next day, and, despite their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still remain missing.
Curiously, Spotty showed up at Cookie’s house alone. Barking, whining and generally pestering Busy with their own lives, they just ignored the nervous little neighbor dog.
Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take “no” for an answer. Frank, Cookie’s owner, was steadily harassed by the furious, adamant little dog. Spotty followed Frank about, barking insistently, then darting toward a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, “Follow me! It’s urgent!”
Eventually, 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 tree, past clumps of trees, to a desolate spot a half mile from the house. The Ted found his beloved Cookie alive, one of his hind legs crushed in a steel leghold trap. Horrified, Frank now wished he’s taken Spotty’s earlier appeals seriously. Then Frank noticed something quite remarkable.
Spotty had done more than simply led Frank to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found an array of dog food and table scraps—which were later identified as the remains of every meal Spotty had been fed that week!
Spotty had Been visiting Brownie regularly, in a single-minded quest to keep his friend alive by sacrificing his own comfort. Spotty had evidently stayed with Cookie to protect him from predators, snuggling with him at night to keep him warm and nuzzling him to keep his spirits up.
Cookie’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 that will-worn path between their houses.