This is a true story that happened in April in Ohio: A man went out one day with his dog to take a walk, and he never came back, and neither did the dog. This man's name was Parley Nichols, and his dog was a golden retriever named Lady. Mr. Nichols got the dog for his wife 5 or 6 years ago. At that time, Lady was about 6 months old, and she already had the name Lady, so the Nicholses kept it.
Then in 2006, Mrs. Nichols died of cancer, and Mr. Nichols and Lady started going everywhere together. Lady especially liked riding in Mr. Nichols car.
Anyway, on April 8, Mr. Nichols' family couldn't find him or Lady anywhere, and they were worried because Mr. Nichols was 81 years old, and he was starting to be forgetful and confused sometimes. So the family put up posters and they looked everywhere, and their friends helped search for Mr. Nichols, and so did the police. But nobody could find him. But they thought he must be with Lady because they couldn't find her either.
Finally, on April 14, a man was walking his dog in a really, really big field, like 46 acres big, and he heard a dog barking, so he went to see why the dog was barking, and it was Lady! Mr. Nichols was there, too, but sadly, he had died. And what they think happened was that Lady and Mr. Nichols went out into this big, swampy field, and Mr. Nichols kind of scooped out a bed for himself and Lady with his hands, and then he lay down there and died because he had a bad heart.
Lady stayed with her dad for many days, even after he died, and she guarded his body, and she probably didn't have any food to eat, but she still stayed there because she loved her dad, and she was a very loyal dog.
So after Lady and Mr. Nichols got found, Lady went to live with some of Mr. Nichols' grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And she is a happy dog again, and the family is glad that Lady stayed with Mr. Nichols so that he didn't have to die alone.
