LEHI -- Nature's laws demand that dogs torment the postman.
Of course, some laws were made to be broken.And Tugs, a 3-year-old English setter, is definitely an exception.
Tugs met postal carrier Don Wright almost three years ago. She was on a normal dog excursion -- chasing a few cats, rolling in the dirt, barking at some cars -- when she sniffed her way to the Lehi Post Office. Wright was leaving the post office for his route, and Tugs invited herself along.
It was puppy love at first sight -- and the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
Tugs followed Wright down the street a few blocks and continued on her merry way. The following morning Wright found Tugs again at the Post Office, wagging her tail in anticipation of another adventure. This time she followed Wright even farther, until eventually she stayed with Wright the whole 18 miles and six hours of his route.
"It started with one street, then a couple of streets and then the whole route," Wright said. "My own dog would follow me eight feet and then take off."
Tugs joins Wright on his route three to five days a week. She trots alongside his postal truck and runs to houses with him as he drops off the mail.
"She knows the route almost better than I do. She could teach my subs which way to go," Wright said. "She knows where the bad dogs are and she knows where the food bowls are, too."
As Wright goes about his job, Tugs will stop and gaze at him admiringly.
On Wright's days off, Tugs will follow other carriers, but if Wright is around, it is almost as if no one else exists. Only a nasty old cat could distract her from Wright.
"I get a kick out of her when she chases cats and they chase her back," Wright said.
So move over Lassie, because in Lehi, Tugs is top dog.
"She's a Lehi celebrity," Wright said. "She's usually ahead of me. Some of the businesses see the dog and they know the mailman's coming."
Lehi dog catchers also know Tugs. They look past leash and collar ordinances that might keep her from doing her postal work.
In the beginning, Tugs' owners, John and Deborah White, tried tying her up to keep her from running away, but it didn't work. Tugs was able to break loose and return to her postal friend.
The Whites also had her spayed, in hopes she would lose her desire to run, but the day after the surgery she was out running with the postman.
"There's just something in her -- she has to go," Deborah White said. Now the White's just assume if Tugs is gone, she's with Wright.
Sometimes he'll drop her off at home, but often she'll start following him again. At the end of the day, Wright parks his truck at the post office and goes inside. By the time he leaves for his car, Tugs is gone.
"She's home every day after post duty around 4 o'clock," John White said.
Tugs believes in the postal philosophy: She delivers through rain, sleet and snow, but occasionally a blizzard keeps her in the doghouse.
Wright takes care of Tugs and likewise, Tugs, in her own canine way, takes care of Wright. Other dogs don't bother Wright when Tugs is around and Wright keeps an eye out for oncoming cars to make sure she doesn't get hit.
Crossing State Street, Wright will bend the rules and let Tugs hop in his truck.
Like other good friends, the two lunch together. Tugs' puppy dog eyes are a good tool for finagling scraps from Wright's lunch.
"People think she's my dog. I guess she kind of is," Wright said.
The Whites must continually reassert their ownership.
"Everybody says, 'What's the mailman dog doing here?' " John White said.
His wife added: "I love her, she's like one of my kids, but she's more loyal to the mailman."