Last year my wife and I were living in Mississippi taking care of my father who at the time was 90 years old. The house we were living in was located on the Gulf Coast in an area known as Gulf Islands National Seashore Park. Some of the land is private property and the rest is owned by the federal government. It is considered a wetlands and there are many wild animals such as red tailed Fox, gators and snakes plus your usual raccoons and possums.I would normally get up early in the morning have my coffee sitting outside enjoying the fresh air.
One morning while sitting there drinking my coffee a very large rustic looking dog came into the yard. I was thinking wow some kind of wild dog from the swamp as he did look quite ferocious at the time. As the dog approached I said what the heck do you want here! To my relief he began to wag his tail and walked over to me and sat down. This was the beginning of a morning ritual that would last until I moved back to Florida. This dog would come around every morning for breakfast as I had bought some dog food and snacks for him. I gave him the name Rusty because he looked like a Rusty nail. While playing with the dog I learned he was quite intelligent somebody had trained this dog well he would roll over and sit and chase the ball on command. I don't know how this dog ended up in the swamp but he seemed to enjoy his freedom after two or three hours he would disappear and I would not see him until the next morning. I always wondered what happened to him I went back to the neighborhood recently in the morning but did not see him maybe he found a nice home somewhere I hope so.