"Sparky! Come!"
Leaping to my feet from a sound sleep, I followed R.J. out the door into the back yard.
My friend Bitsy's owner stood by the fence speaking with Hannah.
Wondering why he was holding her little bed, I looked around and sniffed for my friend, but she was not in her yard. My hackles rose as I realized something must have happened to her or she would be here to greet me, tail wagging fast enough to fall off, as she usually did.
R.J. held the bed close to my snout, and asked me to "Find." Although I did not need to be reminded of my friend's scent, I snuffled deep into the soft pillow and remembered playing the "Find" game so many times with R.J., Gregory, and Jay that I knew exactly what to do.
I turned as I backed up and ran little circles with my nose close to the ground, I knew there had to be a new scent somewhere, and I was determined to find it.
"What is he doing?" Bitsy's owner asked. "He's playing! I told you this was a bad idea! We need to call the police!"
Hannah patted his arm and assured Bitsy's owner. "If Bitsy can be found, Sparky will be the one to do it, he is a very special dog."
Running back and forth, nose still to the ground, I covered Bitsy's yard, sniffing under the bushes and around the flower bed, but still not picking up her scent. The rough fence scratching the side of my face as I went up and down, stopping several times at the places she had tried to dig under.
I sniffed all the way down the street and back again, jumping back in surprise when a car angrily honked at me as I sniffed around the edge of the road, Bitsy's children following behind calling her. By the time we got back to Bitsy's house, some of the younger children were crying.
I kissed away a tear as Jacob repeated, "Here Bitty, Here Bitty." Nicholas wiped his nose on his sleeve and mumbled, "Silly little dog, Come Home!" I was snuffling Hayden's neck to make him laugh when I heard a very faint whimper.
Bitsy! I knew she had to be close!
There! I heard the sound again it came from behind the house! Running to the back yard I barked and scratched at the locked gate. Bitsy didn't answer my bark. I stood very still at the gate and rotated my ears first one way then the other, but didn't hear anything else for a long time. As
I turned to walk back to the children I heard a very small splash. The pool!
I scratched and chewed at the fence, then barked as loud as I could.
But no one came! The humans didn't hear me! They were walking the other way!
I knew I needed to get to Bitsy quickly so I did something I had been told never to do.
Stepping back a few paces, I jumped as high as I could, grabbing onto the fence with paws and mouth then scrambled the rest of the way up. Yelping from the sharp pain in my foot and leg as I pushed myself over the top. The pain got worse as I leaped to the ground, but I ran around the house as fast as I could.
Struggling to keep her head up and too little to climb out, Bitsy was so tired she was slipping under the water. The cold water stung my eyes when I jumped in, making it hard to see.
Listening for her weak splashes and swimming as fast as I could, I bumped into the floating chair. Swimming first one way, then another, I made it around the chair, but it took a lot of time.
I couldn't hear Bitsy splashing anymore!
I choked on the water as I tried to bark, but Bitsy heard and whined back! She was right in front of me!
I gently grabbed her by the loose skin on her tiny neck. Fighting to hold her out of the water, I swam around until I found the stairs just like Hannah showed me in our pool. My tired legs made it hard to carry her up the steps.
Bitsy just laid there, gasping and didn't try to get up. Licking her face and nudging her with my nose didn't get her up. I barked louder than I ever have and jumped and scratched on the back door. No one opened it! I had to get help for her!
Picking her back up I started around the corner of the house, but didn't get far before the light came on and a man ran out the back door.
"Oh my goodness! What have we got here?" The man took Bitsy from me and yelled for someone to bring a towel. I nosed in and kissed her face as he rubbed and patted. Then Bitsy began to whimper and weakly wagged her tail.
Both Bitsy and I were wrapped in towels and carried to her house where the children covered both of us with hugs and kisses, which we returned.
Bitsy's owner warmed milk and set it down for us, then turned to Hannah and said, "You were right, Sparky is a special dog and we all owe him a debt of gratitude. If he had not found Bitsy as quickly as he did, she might not be with us right now!"
I don't know what a "debt of gratitude" is, but I hope it means more warm milk!
