The Story of Old Shep
By Verna Elaine Ririe
 Early one Sunday morning I woke up and looked out the window at
the trees in our yard. Underneath one of the trees sat the dirtiest,
shaggiest, yellow dog I had ever seen. I called to my brother Wayne
and we decided this dog was definitely hungry. Wayne fed him a package
of hot dogs and when we arrived home from church, the dog was still
there.
When Dad arrived home late in the day I begged
him to let us keep the dog. I had already named him "Old Shep" and just knew
he would be the best dog ever. Dad replied, "We will keep him
until we can find his owners." Several weeks went by and Old
Shep soon became my companion and shadow. One night Dad came home
and said, "I found out who that dog belongs to. A family who
lives between here and Idaho Falls went on a trip and neighbors were
supposed to feed the dog. I guess they forgot and the dog broke loose
and ended up here. Now that we know who he belongs to, we'll have
to return him."
The next morning Mother and I got up and got ready to go to town.
We put Old Shep in the back of the pickup and returned him to his
owners. Then we went on to town to do our shopping. When we got home,
guess who was on our front lawn?
Old Shep!
The next day, Mother and I got up, got ready, put Old Shep in the
back of the pickup and again returned him to his owners on our way
to town. We went on and did our shopping and when we came home, Guess
who was on our front lawn?
Old Shep!
The third day, we got ready, put Old Shep
in the pickup and took him back to his owners yet again. Mother
said, "You had better
tie this dog up so he won't run away again." They said they
would and we went on to town to do our shopping. When we came home,
guess who was on our front lawn?
Old Shep!
The owners called and said, "It is obvious that this dog would
rather live with you than with us, so you can have him." And
that is how Old Shep became our dog.
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Elaine Ririe
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