Like pairs of dogs you can find in most any neighborhood, these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their respective houses.

One evening, Brownie's family noticed that Brownie hadn't returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Brownie didn't show up the next day, and, despite their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing.

Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie's house alone, barking, whining, and generally pestering Brownie's human family. Busy with their own lives, they just ignored the nervous, little neighbor dog.

Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take "no" for an answer. Ted, Brownie's owner, was steadily harassed by the furious, adamant little dog. Spotty followed Ted about, barking insistently, then darting back and forth to a nearby empty lot, as if to say, "Follow me! It's urgent!"

Eventually, Ted followed the frantic Spotty across the empty lot, as Spotty paused to race back and bark encouragingly. The little dog led the man under a fence, past clumps of trees, to a desolate spot a half mile from the house.

There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive -- one of his hind legs crushed in a steel leg hold trap. Horrified, Ted wished he'd taken Spotty's earlier appeals seriously.

Then Ted noticed something quite remarkable...

Spotty had done more than simply lead Brownie's human to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found an array of dog food and table scraps, which were identified as the remains of every meal Spotty had been fed that week!

Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in a single minded quest to keep his friend alive by sacrificing his own comfort! Spotty had stayed with Brownie to protect him from predators, snuggling with him at night to keep him warm and nuzzling him to keep his spirits up.

Brownie's leg was treated by a veterinarian and he recovered.

For many years thereafter, the two families watched the faithful friends frolicking and chasing each other down that well-worn path between their houses.

10. You rejoice in rain...even after 10 straight days of it.
9. You have pride in how bad your hands look.
8. You have a decorative compost container on your kitchen counter.
7. You can give away plants easily, but compost is another thing.
6. Soil test results actually mean something.
5. IPM rules!
4. You’d rather go to a nursery to shop than a clothes store.
3. You look for gardens open to the public whenever you go on vacation.
2. Your non-gardening spouse is actually getting involved with your garden endeavors...digging ponds, building bird houses, watering, pruning, turning compost piles, planting...

And you definitely know your a Master Gardener when...

1. You are surrounded by terrific people who share your passion!

• You switch from "Heat" to A/C in one day, but also need an umbrella.
• You know what the "Peoples Republic of Boulder" means.
• Your sense of direction is: towards the mountains and away from the mountains.
• You're a meat eating vegetarian.
• The bike on you car is worth more than your car.
• You use a down comforter in the summer cause you have the A/c set at 55 degrees.
• You're able to drive 65 miles per hour through 13 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without even flinching.
• You take your out-of-town guests to Casa Bonita even though you would never go there otherwise.
• You install security lights on your house and garage but leave all the doors unlocked.
• You think the major food groups are granola bars, tofu and Fat Tire Beer.
• You carry jumper cables in the truck and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
• You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
• Driving is better in the winter cause the potholes are filled with snow.
• You think that sexy lingerie are tube sox and flannel PJs.
• You know all 4 seasons "almost winter, winter, still winter and construction.
• You've been tear gassed in a riot to celebrate the team's victory.
• You think the Governor is John Elway.
• Your idea of a traffic jam is more that 10 pedestrians on the bike path.
• You carry skis on your car, "just in case."
• You can never figure out why your out of town guests faint from altitude sickness on a picnic to the mountains.
• You actually understand these jokes and send them to your friends.