When Rudy was a pup, his mum taught him everything a young Staffordshire Bull Terrier should know. She taught him the rules a Stafford should live by. Never give up, always find the biggest stick, and above all NEVER bite a human!
"That," she explained to Rudy and his littermates, "is the Stafford Way."
She also gave them practical advice about life, and what to do if various things were to happen. For example, "If you get lost, ask a human for directions. Humans are our friends, and will always be happy to help us! But, they often have trouble understanding what we say, so you'd best keep your collar and tags on."
Sometimes it was hard for a lively Stafford pup to sit still, and listen to his lessons, but Rudy tried very hard, and when he was grown up, with a home and humans of his own, he never forgot to live by the Stafford Way. He loved his family, and worked diligently to protect them from such menaces as vacuum cleaners and garden hoses. He was sure they apreciated his loving protection, and knew he would live with them his life long.
But one day, when Rudy was three years old, a strange man came to the house. He talked to the humans for a bit, and patted Rudy on the head. After a little while, Rudy's humans went into the kitchen together. Rudy followed them, to make sure they were okay. They seemed very tense.
"I just don't have a very good feeling about him," said the lady.
"He's the only one who's been interested," replied the man, "The new law will be in place by tomorrow. We CAN'T afford the fines, if we keep him here... especially with the baby coming."
"I know...but..." The lady started crying, and left the room. Rudy tried to follow, to comfort her, but the man stopped him, and put his leash on.
Rudy really wasn't comfortable, leaving his lady upset like that, but he was a good dog, so he went with the man into the room with the stranger. Rudy's human handed the leash to the stranger! Soon, the stranger led Rudy out, and got with him into a car, then drove away.
They drove for a very long time. Rudy was anxious about it, and whined a bit. The strange man smacked him, and told him to be quiet. Rudy was very puzzled by this. Finally, they got to a house where they stopped. The man led Rudy around the back, and tied him up! Then the man went into the house. Rudy had never been tied before, it seemed odd to him. But he lay down, to wait patiently for his dinner. It was past his dinner time.
Soon, it was quite dark, and Rudy became restless. Why hadn't he been brought inside to sleep? He barked imperatively, so the stranger would know that he had been forgotten. The man yelled at him from out of a window! Rudy curled up in a little ball. He was hungry, and cold, and he missed HIS humans. He wished he were home.
The next day, at least he got some breakfast, but he still didn't get to go inside. He was lonely and bored. Finally, that afternoon, some other men came by, and they all stood around and talked about him. One of them had a dog, like a Stafford, but bigger. They brought the dog up to Rudy, who wasn't interested, and turned away.
"Cur!" said the stranger who had brought Rudy here, then kicked him!
The men left. Rudy thought about it, and decided a mistake had been made. He wasn't sure what bad thing he had done, to make his humans send him away, but he was sure he could convince them he wouldn't do it again. But first, he had to get back there....
The chain that tied him was very stout, he pulled and pulled, but it didn't break. Finally, though, the leather of his collar pulled apart, and he was loose! He started off eagerly.
By the next morning, he had to admit to himself that he was lost. They had driven too far, he had no idea how to get back home. Now he wished he still had his collar, so the humans could read his tags. But he was sure, if he asked nicely, the humans would find a way to get him home. They could do amazing things, sometimes.
He saw a human, and ran up to her enthusiastically. She ran into the house, and shut the door! Rudy waited, head cocked, for her to come back out and help him. Finally, it became obvious that wasn't going to happen, so he went to look for a more normal human.
The next human he saw threw a rock at him! It hit him in the shoulder, and it hurt. Rudy retreated, betrayed and confused.
All day, he tried to go up to humans to ask for help, and they would run away, or throw things at him. One tried to drive over him with a car! He couldn't understand it at all. That night, Rudy tried to sleep under a tree, and puzzled over the situation.
It occurred to Rudy that perhaps these weren't humans at all. Since humans are a Stafford's friend, and these weren't being very friendly.... perhaps they were monsters who just LOOKED like humans! Of course, it seemed odd that his wise mum hadn't mentioned the existence of such monsters. Best not to bite any of them, in case he was wrong. Rudy didn't sleep much.
The next morning, he began searching for a real human, but it seemed there were only these monsters. It was very discouraging. Then, he heard a wonderful noise....
He turned a corner, and found a whole field of young humans, running and playing with a ball! Rudy was delighted! He loved to play ball! He ran happily onto the field, grinning widely so they would know he was a proper Stafford looking for a game. They all began to run about shrieking, so Rudy joined the game happily, running after them barking. He was careful not to bump any of them, or get near them with his teeth. He knew that young humans are fragile.
A car making a wailing noise pulled up, and some adult humans got out of it. They had sticks, which they were showing to Rudy! How nice that they wanted to play. Rudy trotted towards them, wagging his tail.
There was a loud noise, and Rudy felt a terrible pain in his side. He smelled blood, and realized he had fallen down. That was odd. He got up, and started towards the humans with sticks, hoping they would help him with this pain.
He heard the loud noise again, this time there was a pain in his paw... which suddenly seemed to be missing. Strange. He stumbled forward, whining now, so the humans would know he needed help.
Again, he heard the noise, and this time he couldn't get up. The pain was everywhere now. He tried to lift his head....
He saw one of the humans start towards him. The human held up his stick. Silly human, couldn't he see Rudy was in no shape to play?
Rudy really wished he were home with his humans. His lady had been so sad before he left. He wished he could have licked her. That was the first thing he would do... when he finally got home....
He heard the loud noise again, and thought it was the slamming of his front door.
