根据短文内容，选择适当的单词或短语填空，使短文意思完整。每个选项至多使用一次，有两项剩余。
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refused, between, led, earlier, warm agreed, later, family, but, failed, dog, food |
Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs. They loved each other and played together so often that they had
made a path (小路) through the grass of the field 1______ their houses.
One evening Brownie's family noticed that Brownie didn't return home. They went looking for him 2______.
Brownie didn't show up the next day, and the next week.
Spotty went to Brownie's house alone. He barked loudly. But Brownie's 3______ were too busy to care about
him. Finally, one morning Spotty 4______ to take "no" for an answer. He followed Ted,Brownie's owner, every
where he went. He barked, then rushed toward a nearby empty place and back, as if to say. "Follow me!"
Finally, Ted followed the dog across the empty place. The little dog 5______ the man to a tree half a mile
from the house. There Ted found Brownie alive one of his legs was crushed (压住) in a trap (老鼠夹). Ted
wished he had come 6______. Then Ted noticed that, in a circle around the injured dog, a lot of 7______ was
left over after lots of meals.
Spotty had been visiting Brownie every day. He had stayed with Brownie to protect him, snuggling (依偎)
with him at night to keep him 8______ and nuzzling (用鼻子爱抚) him to keep his spirits up.