Back in the 60's and early 70's Tom had a beagle/basset hound mix named Puddles. I've got several stories to tell about Puddles. While we lived in Nokomis Illinois, everybody in town knew that dog. His bark was piercing and alarmingly loud. Everywhere Tom's truck went, Puddles followed. Nokomis is a very small town and Puddles would run behind the truck as fast as he could to keep up. Tom would turn his blinker on and the dog would start cutting across to shorten the distance. Tom thought it was fun to signal the wrong direction and watch him go the wrong way until Puddles realized he was duped again. Puddles had tons of character and he really was the smartest dog I ever saw. Dad would pull up to an intersection and Puddles would run out and bark in the intersection until the other cars stopped and let Dad drive on. In the mornings Dad would go down to Murray's cafe for coffee and Puddles would wait right outside the door.
At one time Nokomis also had a pool hall. Puddles would sneak in the front door, go around the counter and grab a snickers bar and run under the pool table. Nobody could get the candy back because he would growl and bark until he was able to eat it. So when Dad would go to the pool hall he would have to pay for all the candy bars that Puddles had eaten. He did it so often that the owner would make bets that Puddles would do that exactly! He never bothered with any other candy except a snickers bar.
There's more to come about Puddles!