A dogs day of reckoning

Dad could tell as story so vividly that all you had to do was close your eyes and it would run like a movie trailer in your mind's eye.  He told me once of a time when he was a kid, probably 7 or 8 would be my guess, when he was a newspaper delivery boy.  He said there was a house on his route that had a small dog that he would tease and taunt by running along the fence with a stick to provoke the dog knowing that the dog wasn't able to get to him because he was behind the fence with a closed gate.  As was the norm the dog would bark like crazy when ever dad came along.  One day, as was the custom, dad did his usual torment with the stick and the fence only this time, unknown to dad, the gate was open.  Dad ran along the fence with the stick, but this time when he came upon the open gate he realized the error of his way and knew the dogs day of reckoning was upon him.  I asked what happened next, dad said "I don't recall, my only memory is that when I got to the open gate and saw I we were face to face, right before he took me to task, I swear I saw that dog smile".