Kazak (Archer; 2009) and Louie (We're Back!: A Dinosaur's Story)

Louie had just spent the last few days wandering around New York after running away from home. While he is having a bunch of fun he is missing his old bed and the affection he used to get from his mom; not that he would openly admit it. Louie finds a nice spot in the most decent looking alley he’s found to sleep for the night, and as he lays down his sleeping bag Louie senses something watching him. He darts his head around trying to find the culprit but isn’t able to find anything suspicious. Shrugging, Louie finishes setting up for the night and drifts off to sleep, unaware of a massive creature watching him with great interest.

Louie wakes up early in the morning as the local New York wildlife does the same. Pigeons and doves chirping and squaking, squirrels and rats squeaking and scurrying, but Louie also hears an animal that he initially can’t recognize. What sounds like panting is heard deeper into the alley, panting that, much to Louie’s growing dread, is coming closer to him. In a panic over avoiding what he can only assume is a monster Louie tries to dive into a nearby dumpster to hide. Before he can fully enter it however something grabs his pant leg and drags him away and deeper into the alley. Louie screams and shouts for help fall on deaf ears as he is yanked across the floor. He squeezes his eyes shut out of fear, hoping the creature is at least quick when it eats him. The monstrous panting he heard seconds before is now right in front of his face, it’s smelly breath almost making him gag. Louie shudders as the monster sniffs all over him before it finally…licks him? Louie feels a massive tongue lick his whole face from chin to forehead leaving behind a thick layer of slobber. He opens his eyes to finally see this apparently affectionate assailant and is shocked to see a huge dog, the biggest he’s ever seen. What he can only guess is a mastiff barks at Louie, it’s tail wagging 100 miles an hour. After the initial shock wears off Louie wipes the slobber off his face with his sleeve before standing up.

“What’s the big idea ya mangy mutt!? You tryin’ to give me a heart attack first thing in the morning!?” Louie asks the dog.

When Louie stands he notices the dog is as tall as him. He gulps but keeps a brave face as the dog lumbers towards him and proceeds to cover his face in slobber again. The dog backs Louie against the wall with each massive lick, alternating between his left and right cheeks as well as chin to forehead doggy kisses. Louie thought his mother was bad when it came to affection, this mutt had her beat. The mastiff puts his paws on Louie’s shoulders and forces him to sit down against the wall, licking his face roughly and causing the boys hat to fly off from the sheer force of his tongue. Louie attempted to push the dog away, but all that did was give him a brief moment to turn his face allowing the mastiff to lick his right cheek.

“Cut it out ya furball!” Louie shouted, “You’re gonna lick me to death!”

The dog backs off finally allowing Louie to have some breathing room. He wipes all the dog slobber off his face and grabs his hat. Louie proceeds to take a closer look at the dog and notices a collar with a dog license. He hesitantly gets closer to take a look, praying that the dog wasn’t gonna coat him in dog drool again. The mastiff seemingly knows what Louie is doing and sits patiently allowing the boy to read the name on the dog tag.

“Kazak? That’s a pretty weird name for a dog.” Louie pats Kazak’s head now that he’s calmed down, “You ain’t from around here are you boy?”

The mastiff gladly accepts the head pats from the boy, his tongue lolling out when Louie upgrades the simple pats to head scratches. Louie can’t help but grin at this mutt, even if he was slobbering all over him just a minute prior. Louie stops and heads back to his camping spot, grabbing his sleeping bag and backpack. The dog, predictably, follows him, snuffing around the area in an effort to collect as many scents as he can as mutts tend to do.

“I guess you can stick with me for a bit.” Louie tells Kazak. “At least until we find your owner.”