“After a while, they sat down on a bench, and the dog sat down in front of them, unmoving, staring quietly all the time.”

I’ve traveled all over the world, and recently I discovered a new wonderland, New Zealand. What a wonderful place. What wonderful people.

But, boy did I have a most unusual experience there. I can certainly say that. It was early Sunday morning, and I was taking my usual morning walk when I passed a young couple pushing a stroller.

I stopped and chatted for a while, and I noticed that their dog, which was a little ragged-looking and an obvious mixture of several breeds, kept staring at me. After a few minutes, without it ever taking its eyes off me, I became a bit unsettled. I asked them if their dog looked everyone in the eye, and did so without ever looking away.

What they told me gave me the chills.

He was apparently lost or homeless when he literally walked up to them in the park and started following them. There was no one else in sight, and he didn’t have any dog tags. And just like he was doing to me, he kept staring at them. After a while, they sat down on a bench, and the dog sat down in front of them, unmoving, staring quietly all the time.

They felt they had no choice but to take him home which was several blocks away and not in a straight line. What they couldn’t understand and still can’t explain to this day is that when they got up, the dog rose too and walked in front of them, leading the way.

The mutt had no idea where they lived but somehow, instinctively, he led them right to their front door where he sat down and looked at them as they walked up the walkway to the door.

No one in the neighborhood had ever seen the dog before so there was no way he could have known where they lived. The couple relayed one more thing. This wasn’t the only time the dog led them somewhere. He often leads the way, rarely making a mistake as to where they are going. It’s as if this stray dog is a mind reader.

And he never makes a wrong turn. Not even on the day they first found him and took him home, or rather he led them home.

V. Penner
Skokie, Illinois