Devil drum cocked ready over his shoulder, he flung open the front door, to find a delighted pug-boxer mix madly thumping its tail. Buddy forewent the usual head-to-the-knees greeting and scrambled straight to the back door of the house. He resumed the mad tail thumping there, smacking the stove to produce a rattling gong noise.
Joe moved cautiously through the house, glanced out the back door to make sure there wasn’t a freaky, stalking axe murderer in his yard, and finally released the long-suffering Buddy into the wilderness behind the house. Then Joe cautiously checked the rest of the rooms, drum at the ready. Nothing had been moved that he could see. More indicative perhaps, was the lack of dog pee. He would like to think that Buddy would tear into an intruder and leave bits of them around the house like so many pillow innards, but he had to admit that’s probably not how it would go down.