An adult Labrador Retriever with light brown fur and white markings walking alongside an adult tabby cat in a lush green park on a paved pathway during the daytime. 3:03
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When the dogs walk, the neighbor's cat leads

"He'll just pop out of a shrub," says the woman who walks her dogs, Gunny and Emmy. She never knows where the cat comes from, but he always finds them. more

The cat is Oliver, and he's not hers. She learned from the neighbors that he belongs to a family who lives just a couple of houses down. He tagged along one day, and from then on there was no turning back.

When he joins the walk, he often heads out in front, like he is the leader. Drivers stop, roll down their windows, point and laugh. She was in shock herself at first. She had never seen a cat walk around the block with people and their dogs.

Oliver and Gunny are especially fond of each other. As soon as the walk starts, they look for each other. When they meet, Oliver makes sure to touch Gunny with his tail, a greeting some people call a cat hug.

Then Oliver started spending a lot of time by their front door. Before long he was coming inside. Gunny is always at the door, waiting for him to come in.

One cold day it was 26 degrees out, and she was a little worried about him. So the family put a little cat door in the screen, right next to the dog door, and now Oliver can come and go.

An adult Labrador Retriever with light brown fur and white markings walking alongside an adult tabby cat in a lush green park on a paved pathway during the daytime. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
"He'll just pop out of a shrub," says the woman who walks her dogs, Gunny and Emmy.

He usually comes in for a nap, and he takes the job seriously. He'll try every bed and every blanket in the house until he's comfortable. Every once in a while, they find him in the kitchen sink.

He has also figured out that the dogs get a treat after the walk, so now there are cat treats in the house too. "Good walk, gang," she tells the three of them. As she puts it, he's just one of the family.

One day he hangs back at the door, not quite sure about coming in. "Come on," she says. "Let's go get some treats."

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