This Dog...


This dog.

She is all smiles for her family. Flopping down for a belly rub, Pyr-paws for your attention, eyes always laughing into your own.

She is mother hen for her flock—feathered, furred and Carrharts alike. Always watching for danger, always aware of who is in need, always alert to the slightest change in the air.

She is all danger for both the 2 and 4-legged that don’t belong. Neither ground or sky predators escape her watchful eye and woe befall those who don’t heed her bark for truly the bite behind it can be fierce if need be.

This dog works hard, plays harder and loves hardest of all.

And for the last 2 days, she has stood vigil over the body of Evie’s horse while we await the tools of final disposition. She won’t let the other dogs, the cats, even the other horses close. She guides them gently but firmly away. She will only come to the house to eat and a few pats and then resumes her lonely watch, curled up in the snow next to Ginger when she needs a nap. Somehow she has taken this task as her sworn duty and I cannot dissuade her otherwise.

And when Evie came outside today, for the first time since the loss of her horse, it is as if she knew this person was the one who hurt the most. For then she finally left her watch in the pasture and bumped her nose into Evie’s arm, cajoled her into a game of tag and loved her with the same dedication to duty she had given her watch. She knew all the right moves to evince a smile out of the broken-hearted—daughter and mom alike.

This dog.

This dog is a very good dog.

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