Homeward Bound     “a true story”

A little over two months ago my neighbor Elaine who likes to feed the homeless animal’s, mainly cats mentioned to us that someone was not only eating all of the cat food that she normally puts out in her front yard but also taking away the bowls!  We all came to the conclusion that it was probably a loose dog that has been wandering around the area recently. My wife Yvonne then noticed that dog at our back fence once it was feeding time for our dogs, so she decided to start going around our house to see if she could start feeding him also.  As she called out for him  he would come running around to the front of the house with hesitation.  He would wait for the food tray to be placed on the ground and he cautiously would start eating.  She tried to get closer to him and he would retreat, he had  a collar with tags and we hoped it had the  owners phone number. Tried to get close enough to read them but to no avail, this routine continued for weeks. Two weeks ago we formally met our neighbor Angela from the end of our cul-de-sac and the subject of this lost dog came up and as it turns out , Angela had been feeding him breakfast every morning before she headed off to work.  Our homes back up to an area of beautiful woods and trees and that is where “Rudy” alias, would go back to after his meals and running around this was  his home and shelter.  We would worry about him on those super cold nights but thanks to caring neighbors he did not lack food or water.   On Tuesday, Christmas Eve as Yvonne was handing out her homemade Christmas Cheesecakes to our neighbors we came across Angela’s neighbor Ernest and his family. He too was familiar with Rudy and said whenever he was griiling  steaks he would share with Rudy!  Wow did we feel cheap. Moments later Rudy came out to play, Yvonne would lay on the ground to make Rudy feel more comfortable and as I watched Yvonne get a hold of him and was able to release his collar and YES there was a phone number. As Rudy ran back to the woods Yvonne made the phone call and left a message. A man called back after about an hour and said he would call back when he was done with his deliveries as he was working for UPS.    Later around 6:15 that evening “Jeremy”s wife called and asked for our address as they were both on the way to pick up Rudy!   Yea, when they arrived Rudy was no where to be found so  “our adopted son” who thinks he’s a UPS driver with all the miles he racks up, went into the woods to attempt to flush out Rudy and lo and behold Rudy came out. I think all the animals RUN for their life when they hear or see him. When the owners called out to Huckleberry aka as Rudy he was still in a resistance mode.” Come to mama Huckleberry”  and the dog would sit and listen, get up nervously , sit and stare.  After 20 minutes Yvonne ran to the front yard and the dog pursued her it took another 10 minutes to get close to him so we bribed him with ham and Carrie’s fresh chili…… What happened next would have been a winner for America’s funniest video’s as Yvonne was on the ground wrestling Huckleberry as she tried to capture Rudy,  along with our son and the dogs owner.  SUCCESS came when Josue wrapped his arms around him and carried Huckleberry to the car.   Once in, the dog gave a big lick to his owner on the cheek…… Huckleberry was rescued again, he knew he was HOME.…