One morning, Ann's neighbor Tracy found a lost dog walking around the local middle school. She asked Ann if she could keep an eye on the dog. Ann said that she could watch it only for the day.
Tracy took photos of the dog and printed off 400 FOUND fliers (传单), and put them in mailboxes. At the same time, Ann went to buy some food for the dog. She told her two sons not to fall in love with the dog, Ann's son Thomas was 10 years old, and Jack, who was recovering (恢复) from a heart operation (手术), was 21 years old.
Four days later Ann was still taking care of the dog, and they started to call it Riley. When she arrived home from work, the dog hit itself against the door and barked loudly at her. As soon as she opened the door, Riley rushed into the boys' room where Ann found Jack suffering from a heart attack (心脏病发作). Riley ran over to Jack and sopped barking when Ann bent over to help Jack.
"Without it, the doctor said Jack would have died, " Ann reported to a local newspaper. By then, no one called to ask for the dog, so Ann wanted to keep it.
The next morning Tracy got a call. A man named Peter recognized his lost dog and called the number on the flier. Tracy started crying, and told him, "That dog saved my friend's son. "
Peter drove to Ann's house to pick up his dog, and saw Thomas and Jack crying in the window. After a few moments, Peter said, "Maybe Odie was supposed to find you, maybe you should keep it. "