He wasn’t the biggest collie pup in the litter. Two others were bigger than him, and both had drifted into a sleep from which there would be no awakening. As gentle hands lifted him out of the whelping box and offered a bottle, he nuzzled into the tips of each finger, searching for his mother. [...]

He had won.
He had done his master proud and he had won.
It wasn’t that he understood exactly “what” he had done to make everyone so happy. It wasn’t as if he had fought off a raging bear, or saved a lost child like Lassie would have. He hadn’t run for help or chased a thief [...]

The man and his wife of many years sat at the kitchen table, coffee mugs in hand, the morning paper spread open before them. “Any for sale?” she asked. Every morning, it was like this now.
“I don’t know,” he said, adjusting his glasses as she reached for a jar, scraped it clean and spread honey [...]