by Barbara Pezzella
A stray puppy was wandering the road by our house and followed our 8 year old son everywhere he went. We adopted him and he loved us. He never wanted to be an inside dog, as each time we tried to keep Sandy in the house, he started to pant and wanted to go to his doghouse. He loved children and as soon as he saw them he would unhook his lead and go with them, he especially liked to swim with the children as we lived by a lake. One neighbor especially loved it because he always would swim out to a certain point and not let her children swim any farther out into the lake. One day this neighbor called me to say that her 3 year old had wandered into the woods and they could not find her. Would we please unhook Sandy and let him look for her. We did and within a half an hour we heard him barking. When we found them her little girl was sitting next to Sandy and hugging him. From that time on, he was on duty. Sandy lived to be 15 and was loved by all the neighbors, because he was not just our dog but everyones.