Granger reached the barn and peeked through the open doors. What he saw made him stop in his tracks. Dolly had trotted into her stall and come to a gentle stop. The puppy clambered down her back and nestled into a pile of hay she had gathered earlier.
Then something even stranger happened, Dolly nudged the hay around the puppy, then lay down beside it, curling her neck protectively around the little pup. It was the most maternal thing Granger had ever seen.
Dolly wasn’t just tolerating the puppy, she was caring for it. She stood guard over him, her eyes calm, her breathing steady, as if she had found something she had been missing.