Years ago I had a toy poodle and she would bring her food bowl to me and drop it at my feet. If I did not get up she would soon be banging it against the wall. One time the bowl was in the sink and she brought me the water bowl loosing water all the way.

I love your stories and was relieved that Keeli survived and you didn't get bitten. Our friends recently took their dog to rattlesnake aversion training since they like to hike with her.

Emma, poodles are quite smart, aren't they?

socks, most trainers say they are smartest of all dogs. When I opened the entryway closet my poodle got very excited hoping for a walk. A walk is much more fun than the back yard.

Years ago I rescued a 3 year old rottie, I didnt know any back ground info on her. My one neighbor had a 4 year old little girl that loved my Bella, her parents had drug & alcohol problems and would just let this little girl roam free, she would knock on my door and ask if she could play with Bella and most of the time we would go outside and they would play, in the winter Bella would pull a sleigh with the little one on it. One day her father came home wasted and yelled at her to get in the house, then he started to come at her, that was the wrong thing to do with Bella right there, she started to growl and started towards him when I warned him to back off the kid before he regretted it. The next day when he was sober he told me he realized what he was doing to his daughter and thanked me for having such a wonderful & protective rottweiler. Bella is gone now and I miss her every day, she was one in a million. Kudos to Keeli for saving you. Great post, I love reading dog stories.

I have two:

First is my lab, Jack. Of course he would retrieve anything. In a group of adults throwing a ball for him, he would bring the ball back to whoever threw it.

But when our young neighbor kids threw him a ball, he made them take turns. If the boy threw the ball, he would bring it to the girl, and vice versa. He did this repeatedly, on several occasions! He never did that with anyone else.

Here's Jack, at his happiest - by the lake.

Then there's Topper - our first Cardigan Welsh Corgi. He was not especially affectionate - he would sit with you on the couch as long as you were petting him, then he would go lay on the floor.

My teenage son suffered from depression and anxiety in high school. At one point his doctor put him on a med to which he reacted very badly - he had drastic mood swings, from hysterical laughter to suicidal thoughts within minutes. He stopped taking it right away, but the effects lasted a week. Either DH or I was at his side the whole time, usually snuggling on the couch in the family room.

Topper would be at the far end of the house, presumably asleep, when suddenly he'd run to the family room and jump into my son's lap. Within a minute DS would report suicidal thoughts. The dog stayed in his lap until it passed, then sat at the other end of the couch, keeping a watchful eye on him.

It happened several times that week. When that awful week was over, Topper went back to his usual, more aloof self. I don't know how he knew - I just know that having the dog at my son's side made those episodes a little easier to handle.

Another Topper story - not nearly as dramatic. We went to Itasca State Park in Minnesota - home of the birthplace of the Mississippi River. My sons love to wade down the river, and started off, as they had done before. Topper wasn't crazy about the water, and didn't like to swim (even though he was good at it). DH and I planned to walk a path, and meet the boys downstream.

Topper would have none of it - he insisted on following them down the river, through the water. He had his ears flat back on his head - a very unhappy look - but determined to not let the boys out of his sight! Lucky for Topper, the water was really low that year.

Here are the three of them, on a log across the river: