Nicky was an extraordinary dog who endured many calamities. First, he was cooped up in a box sealed with duct tape but managed to escape. Then he fell in a deep hole and stayed there for three days until he was found; came within a hair of being run over by a big truck; was attacked by two big dogs and required numerous stitches and was run over by a riding mower twice. Despite all this, he lived to a relatively old age of thirteen, which is over ninety-one years old in human years.