the fourth story

Another short story- this one is a family legend and may or may not be true. I suspect it is "based on a true story".

Before my parents had me, they had Tate and Flower. Tate was a german shepard/collie mix of unknown provenance. Flower was a very small black and white long haired mutt who they'd adopted from a friend. At the time of this story, they, and my parents, were living in very rural Pennsylvania, and the dogs were allowed to go out and wander at will. One day, Tate came back without Flower. This was truly odd- they were a pretty good pack, and stuck together reliably. My Dad was home, and swears that Tate "did the Lassie thing". He didn't pay attention at first- Mom was the one who usually listened to the dogs- but Tate was insistent, and eventually, he got worried about where Flower might be, and followed. They walked for a while, and finally arrived at a rabbit hole. Which Tate barked at, vigorously. Dad, now a bit upset to have been brought all this way just to help bark at a rabbit, started to walk away. Then he heard the rabbit bark back, from down in the hole. Tate started digging at the hole, Dad went and got a shovel, and between the two of them, they dug down and released Flower from where the rabbits were holding her hostage.