It took him most of the night to find her, but he finally did! He was tired, his paws and shoulders ached and he was even more hungry than ever… but he did it! This was her place, he had no doubt about that fact in his mind. Exhausted, he walked up the 3 steps to her tiny porch and sat down in front of the white door with the peeling paint panting almost uncontrollably.
But he knew she was inside. He didn’t know how he knew, he just did. So he waited there at her door, sometimes sleeping, but often waking up to sounds he didn’t know. Finally, dawn came, and the sun colored the world to him in different ways. He yawned and rolled over on his side, tired but happy, and fell back asleep.
Moments later he heard footsteps inside, as he pricked up his erect ears, looking at the c***k at the bottom of the door intently. Minutes later a key turned in the lock, and he was momentarily distracted by the sensation of his length of a tail, wagging. Then the door swung open and there she was, looking worn and tired, dressed in a waitress uniform.
“Well, hello puppy,” she said to the big dog by her front door, kneeling down and holding her hand out to him. He licked it immediately, not knowing what else to do, and she giggled. Hmmm, that was new. He hadn’t heard her laugh like that before.
“Who do you belong to, boy?” she asked the stray while scratching behind his ears. “I love your black coat and red coat – and your lovely tall ears!” She giggled again. “You’re such a handsome German Shepherd – I’ve always wanted one, and here you are.”
He was vaguely annoyed at how good the scratching felt, but gave himself over to the feeling and before long she was knelt over him petting him all over. Then he rolled over, showing her his empty belly that definitely needed a rub.
She complied immediately by squatting down and scratching his belly and all over his chest. And just then she found a spot right underneath his rib cage that set his back legs to twitching like they had a mind all their own. He smiled that perfect doggy smile upside down at her as his lips curled back to expose a set of teeth that demonstrated no threat of any kind to her.
“You don’t have a home, do you, boy? No tag or collar. Hmmm, you can stay with me if you don’t mind being alone all day while I’m at work.” She kept scratching as she cooed to him, and he had to admit that her voice was soothing and the scratching felt great. His legs kept wiggling now just as fast as his lovely little tail.
“Come on in, boy,” she said to the big dog. “I have some leftovers I can give you. But then I have to go to work, so you’ll have to wait until I get home if you want to play some more, okay?”
She fed him some pizza crusts and poured him a bowl of water that she put just outside the door on her small porch. Then she left for work. Logan went over, circled a few times, then laid down just outside her front door and fell asleep. The later in the day it got, the more intense his desire to see her grew. New and exciting sounds and smells surrounded him but he fought the temptation to wander.
He stayed there all day long just outside her front door, except for the few times he needed to go relieve himself, until she returned later that evening. Needless to say when she returned, he did a dance for her like none she had never seen or had a chance to enjoy. He literally jumped for joy! And his lovely long tail never slowed down once! That was part of who he was now, loyal until the end.
This became their routine and the days passed so quickly. He spent his time with her when she wasn’t at work, always by her side, feeling lost when he wasn’t. He waited at her door until she came home, not wanting to wander off, and she fed him and took him for walks, talking to him about everything, from her hobbies and dreams to her fears.
Logan found out that she was a whole different person than he’d always made her out to be, and as the days passed he found that a different feeling was developing, something deeper and stronger than the natural loyalty of a dog to its owner. Logan began to admit to himself that he was falling in love with her.