SAWYER, The Famous River Wonder Dog, is a “Walt Disney, rare, low-rider sheep dog” whose legend continues to grow.

A still at-large and not forgotten rattlesnake nailed him one late August night. While his parents, er, owners bid farewell to some guests, Sawyer was protecting his fenced front yard when the fanged felon struck. The first strike got him just above his eyes. One fang hit a spot just over and between his eyes, while the second fang sunk more deeply just above his left eye, an inch and a half from the first fang. Big snake. Later, a lesser wound was discovered under his chin.

Sawyer had the rattlesnake vaccine upon his arrival as a dumped puppy in the summer of 2007, a booster a month later, followed by an annual booster 12 days before the vile viper almost struck him down for the count. The vet credited the vaccine with saving Sawyer’s life.

A LATE Saturday night call and trip to the vet resulted in some shots and wound cleaning. Mistakenly, his parents, er, owners insisted on taking him home only to see him drift into unconsciousness late Sunday morning. A frantic call brought another visit to the vet and confinement in the clinic’s intensive care area, where his owners spent the better part of three days with hands on Sawyer along with regular checks by the vet.

Four hours after an “I’ve done all I can” declaration from the vet, The River Wonder Dog began to stir and soon after took his first stroll outside. A couple of hours later, he was proclaimed ready to go home.

Sawyer dragged around the next few days, tail drooping. After four days, however, a bark accompanied by the normal curling of the tail over his broad back, brought smiles of relief from his parents, er, owners. And, a little animal who’d proven to be the funniest, smartest, most-loving dog his caretakers had ever seen, got funnier, smarter and more entertaining.

SAWYER IS a great lesson for those who have pets they don’t want and do the cruel thing of dumping them with no thought about what could happen.

This personable little dog could be an entertaining show for a bunch of kids and they’d probably get mom and dad to buy a ticket just to see him.

Take for instance his trick with the sprinkler system. His fenced front yard — from whence he chases and barks at farm equipment, bicyclers, motorcycles and joggers (never cars) — has to be irrigated so grass and flowers will grow. On the rare occasion when he’s outside and the sprinklers come on, he attacks. Sawyer dashes up close to the sprinkler, barks several times then bites furiously at the stream of water. He repeats this process with each sprinkler head until the cycle is completed and it retracts into the ground. At this time, Sawyer proclaims his victory with a quick lap around the fence perimeter and then does his “I’m so proud” strut. You’d think he just scored a NFL touchdown.

In the fall, when the leaves require the blower, Sawyer repeats his biting at the source, but this time it’s just air he’s chomping on. Once the blower is turned off, there’s the victory lap and the strut.

Now, that’s better than dumping a dog, particularly a puppy, out in the wilds where his likely end is under the wheels of a car or truck. Or, caught by a humane officer and euthanized at a city or county animal shelter.

WORSE YET, he could be a pit bull and trained to be vicious and fight.

Pit bulls are a much-maligned breed, with some reason even though there are those that are pure pets. Those are usually treated well from birth. However, the numbers say that many are made vicious and become problems for humans.

Take Harris County (Houston), for instance. In 2000, 749 pit bull types were admitted to the county animal shelter; in 2003, it was 1,589; and in 2007 it totaled 4,124. In the same period of time, bites of humans by pit bulls numbered: 2000, 104; 2003, 152; and 2007, 253.

It would be great if no one raised dogs to be vicious and trained to fight. It would be even better if every dog was as loved as Sawyer. The lives of the dogs, as well as the owners, would be greatly enhanced. Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher. He can be reached by email at wwebb@wildblue.net.