When Red Dog's owner was hospitalized a month ago, the dog went missing.

07:57 AM EDT on Friday, June 18, 2004

BY ZACHARY R. MIDER
Journal Staff Writer

Journal photo / Sandor Bodo Robert Wayne Anderson, 44, sits in the window at the former Rhode Island Training School for Boys, in Cranston. His dog disappeared last month while he was hospitalized in Kent Hospital for a series of strokes.

CRANSTON -- It took Robert Wayne Anderson 2 1/2 months to cross the continent with his thumb in the air and a battered corduroy hat on his head. He set out from Sacramento with the clothes on his back, a container of dog food, and a red dog named Red Dog.

Their voyage ended along Sockanosset Cross Road, where Anderson decided to make his home amid the parking lots and strip malls. He started appearing along Pontiac and New London Avenues, with a timeworn cardboard sign asking for food or work. The red dog was always with him.

Three years later, Anderson is without his companion for the first time. Red Dog disappeared last month, when Anderson, 44, said he suffered from a series of strokes and spent some time at Kent Hospital.

A friend went to one of Anderson's haunts, the former Rhode Island Training School for Boys (Anderson calls it "the Hilton"). The dog, and the dog food, were missing. Anderson suspects a thief.

Since then, Anderson has searched Cranston high and low. "I felt like I was shot in the heart, dude," he said. "That dog was my buddy."

Once, he heard Red Dog was spotted on Park Avenue. Another time, he heard the suspected thief had taken off to Pennsylvania. Anderson was ready to hit the road and follow him. Then he heard the suspect was still in Cranston.

Recently, a woman asked Anderson, "Don't you think he's in a better place?"

"I looked at her and I said, 'No!' "

Years ago, when Anderson and Red Dog first appeared on the streets, the animal shelter got calls from people worried about Red Dog's condition.

"The dog is always absolutely fine," Christy Burdick, an animal control officer, said yesterday. "He loves the dog to death."

Since last month, Burdick said, she's been calling other animal shelters to see if they came across Red Dog. The police are on the lookout, too, Anderson said. Even the clerks at the gas stations have been following Anderson's fortunes.

"We are so outraged that they stole Wayne's dog," said Ashley D'Alessandro, of West Warwick, who sometimes gives Anderson a meal or a few bucks.

Red Dog was a gift from a stranger in Sacramento, who told Anderson he is a "Texas red-nose heeler." He is about 4 years old, rust-colored, with a white nose, white paws, and white on the tip of his tail. He was sporting a Cranston Animal Shelter tag when he disappeared.

If you have information about him, call the shelter at (401) 464-8700

Up at "the Hilton," Anderson has a 5-pound bag of dog food, awaiting Red Dog's return.

Zachary R. Mider can be reached at 277-8068 or zmider [at] projo.com