"Gulliver" The dog who thought like a human

Back in the 80's I lived in a country town of Descanso in San Diego county. One day on my way home I noticed a very thin very large 6-8 month puppy sitting at the door of the general store for the town. I had seen him on several previous occasions also. I asked around and found out he had been dumped at the store when he was 8 weeks old and had manage to survive off the kindness of strangers for  that period of time. I was told if I wanted him to take him as the store was going to call the animal shelter to take him. When I convinced this rather large happy go lucky pup to get in my car the connection was instant. I named him "Gulliver" after all the travels he had done in his short life. Gulliver and I went straight to my vet for a check up, shots, parasite testing and to get a appointment for a neuter.  Gulliver met my dog Charlotte a Irish setter who was not the brightest bulb on this earth but very loyal and loved me to death. Their  bond was instant and Gulliver figured out right away that he had to keep a eye on Charlotte. They would roam my fenced 5 acres several times a day to investigate for anything that look interesting, bugs, flowers, weeds, and old animal poop (Gulliver's favorite to roll in). Gulliver turned out to be a very large brown brindle English Mastiff great Dane cross weighing in at over 200 lbs. The best way to describe his personally was a cross between Goofy and  Pluto of Disney fame with a touch of human intelligence that I will never understand. Gulliver always knew what I wanted and how to make it happen. One example was when I moved to Lakeside in San Diego county in the late 80's. It was a beautiful home with over 2 fenced acre of avocados groves.  Gulliver  loved the avocados to eat. Charlotte had passed to the rainbow bridge 2 years earlier.  My best friend Emily became my roommate.  Gulliver was always our ever present companion. Gulliver had one really bad habit he would jump my fence and steal 1 of my neighbors chickens to bring it into our yard being very careful not to hurt it. At 2:30 a.m I heard Gulliver hit the fence and woke Emily to let her know that Gulliver had stolen a chicken and we had to get it back to my neighbor's coop. We went down to find the chicken in the yard. I put Gulliver in the house and asked  Emily to pick the hen up but she did not have her contacts in and could not tell back from front. After we manage to get the chicken Emily decided we could not return her to the coop with out giving her a bath to clean off  Gulliver's slobber, so off to the bathroom we went . Shampooing a chicken was a first for me, but the hen thought it was pretty cool especially the blow dry to make sure her feathers were dry and she would not catch a cold. After the hen's morning at the chicken spa I climbed the fence and placed her back in her coop safely. When I returned home Gulliver was setting on the door step to the kitchen wagging his tail. I was in no mood to be pleasant  at 4:30 a.m. I shook my finger at him and said next time you bring a chicken home I want it plucked and ready to cook!!!  Emily and I had been unemployed for over 6 months and things were very tight. Gulliver bounced up and down like he understood  and layed down on the porch. Emily and I went to bed with no other thought of the evening. At 7:00 a.m. the next morning I heard Gulliver scratching at the door to come in and bouncing around like Tigger. He had some thing in his mouth. When I let him in he set the thing in his mouth down very gently not breaking the cellophane that it was wrapped in, and begin to bounce on all 4 feet. I could not believe my eyes, the package contained  2 Cornish game hens, slightly thawed, and were ready to cook. After months of eating peanut butter souffles and too many "mystery" rice dishes Gulliver brought a real meal!!!! To this day I do not know where those Cornish game hens came from, or how Gulliver understood me, but they were a a total gift from Gulliver and he knew it. I never will understand the special connection that Gulliver and I had to this day but it lasted his whole life with me. When Cassidy my pup that I wrote about on Jan 1 came into my life much like Gulliver had, I noticed that they had much of the same personalities and actions and the connection between us was exactly the same. I can't help to think that maybe Gulliver had something to do with it. In the world of animals there is a saying, "when we lose a pet the lost one will pick the time and place to send a new best friend", and so far my experience has played this out. Coincidence, perhaps,wishful hoping, maybe, or maybe there is a small piece of truth in it, I chose the last as I have seen it played out many times.