Based on 63 community votes, the most popular answer to “The Red Collar on the Hook by Our Door” is “Track him down and tell everything” — chosen by 19% of voters.
Category: heartwarming • Theme: ✨ Unexpected Kindness
I used to count the holes on her red collar when Dad fell asleep on the couch. There were five. The last one was stretched white. The red nylon dog collar hung on the hook by the door. The tag still on it, edges bent. I think it had been there most of my life, worn thin at the buckle. Dad said he found her at a shelter he almost drove past. He wasn’t really a dog person. He said there was a smell like wet mop water and popcorn in the lobby, and a girl at the desk had a Broncos hoodie with a hole in the sleeve. He told me once he had been about to return her that first week. She barked, chewed his boots, knocked over the trash. He did not return her. Three years from rescue to that floor. He said that was how long until she kept barking at him one night, in the living room at 3am. He slid off the couch onto the carpet. She would not stop barking until the ambulance came. The paramedic kept calling her “good girl.” Later, Dad found the paramedic’s name on some paper and put it in the freezer. Now Dad is the one who hangs the red collar back on the hook. I still don’t know if we’re supposed to tell that man. I still don’t know what the collar is waiting for. What would YOU do?
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