This dog is Moon's best friend

A man and his dog are indeed inseparable, as Robert Moon's story attests.

Moon and his 11-year-old bichon frise dog, J.R., have been together since his dog was a pup. J.R. comes from a long line of J.R.s - with both of his grandfathers as well as his sire having the same name, one of them even making an appearance in The National Dog Show. Moon is as partial to the name as he is to his dog, because both of his own grandfathers were named J.R.

J.R. is used to sticking close to his Creston home. Bichons are known for their merry temperaments, and Moon says his dog has been yard-trained since his puppy years, with plenty of room to roam in his own backyard.

But one day last month when Moon needed to go to Bigfork, J.R. did something Moon never would have expected of him - he left his yard looking for his master and ended up about three-eighths of a mile from his home.

Moon recalls that J.R. had turned down a ride into town with him that afternoon. "He loves to ride," he explains. But on this particular day when Moon invited him to jump into the car, J.R. just sat on the deck and wouldn't get up. That was a first.

After he'd run a couple errands in Bigfork to the post office and gas station, Moon was on his way home, just ready to turn onto Turtle Mountain Road off Montana 35, when he was stopped by a traffic "jam" of sorts. To his surprise, J.R. was the cause of all the commotion. Sometime earlier two fellows in a pickup came across his powder puff of a dog sitting right in the middle of the intersection like a sentinel. They quickly blocked traffic until they could safely get J.R. off the road. There was a conglomeration of five or six cars that the two men had managed to stop.

"Most people love animals," says Moon, "but these good Samaritans were out there flagging traffic and protecting J.R. from getting hit." No sooner had they collected the dog and carried him off the road, then Moon pulled up. "He saw them holding a white ball of fur and thought, "Oh jeez, that looks like my dog.

"I'm 81 years old and don't run as fast as I use to," he says. But when he reached J.R. to his relief he saw that big white tail waving like a flag on the Fourth of July.

Moon was particularly thankful for their actions under circumstances when he realizes most people would probably have just dodged his dog or honked at him.

"It's kind of a hectic world," he says. "I so glad there were no accidents. I just want to thank those guys again for what they did."

Back in 1983, shortly after he'd moved to Creston, Moon's black poodle wandered off, and was hit and killed on Montana 35. At the time, he was working night security at Eagle Bend and wouldn't get home until after midnight. Unfortunately, that dog, also named J.R., didn't have any kind strangers to intercede for his safety on his behalf.

As for this J.R., he's safe and sound and hopefully the wiser for his perilous peregrination. When asked what prompted him to act so uncharacteristically, Moon says simply, "He missed me."