Dennis McCarthy has the day off.
This column by Dennis McCarthy was originally printed on Aug. 24, 2000 in the Los Angeles Daily News.
Move over, Lady and the Tramp. You’ve got some real-life competition. His name’s King Arthur and hers is Annie.
They’re a couple of strays that used to live in the basement of an old abandoned home in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles, across the alley from where the Hernandez family lives.
Arthur weighs about 70 pounds and is a shepherd mix. Annie weighs 30 pounds and looks something like an Australian cattle dog.
Alma Hernandez came home one day a few months ago from her housekeeping job in Hollywood, then saw Annie run into the street and get hit by a car.
What she and some of her neighbors saw next was the talk of the neighborhood for weeks.
Out of nowhere, Arthur ran into the middle of busy 51st Street and started walking in a slow circle around Annie’s fallen body, protecting her from the oncoming traffic.
“Horns were blaring and people yelling, but he wouldn’t get out of the street and stop circling her until every car was stopped,’” said Edlyn Hernandez, Alma’s daughter.
“Then Arthur dragged Annie by the neck to the curb and safety.’”
While Alma massaged and put a bandage on Annie’s leg, her son, Dixon, and his girlfriend went into the house to get Annie some milk. With Arthur’s approval, they moved Annie from the curb into their back yard.
“A few days later, Annie was up and walking again, and she and Arthur went back to their abandoned house,” Edlyn said. “After that, when you saw one, you saw the other. Always. They were inseparable.”
As in any good story, there has to be a villain. She lived a few houses down from Arthur and Annie’s basement.
“About a month after the accident, Annie had a litter of nine puppies, and my mom was putting out food and milk for them,” Edlyn said. “But this woman was always taking it away because she wanted to get rid of the…
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