Man's Best Friend, but Who Is Dog's, by Tony Covatta

13/1/2023

Our Scottish deerhound Delphine loved the golf course. Evenings I watched her gallop fairways, gambol beneath overarching oaks and branchy maples, snuffle through scrubby, leafy underbrush.

This day, three marauding mutts, killers of neighborhood dogs, emerged from the woods. They clustered lengths away. Focused, Delphine stood her ground. Alpha dog crept forward, lunged. Delphine parried the thrust, dancing left, eyes fixed on him. He lunged again. And again. Always she quietly pirouetted left or right. The killers tired, slunk off. Delphine, alert, tall, composed, stared them away.

I admired her bravery.

Wondered why I only watched, did not assist her.

Jenny Logan

13/1/2023 12:31:06 pm

Fantastic story, Tony.

Tony

14/1/2023 02:13:45 am

Thank you Jenny.

Mary Anne Mc Enery

13/1/2023 12:57:48 pm

Inspiring tale ,Tony with a lesson .Great story.

Tony

14/1/2023 02:14:45 am

Mary Anne, Glad to be of service. TC

Jenna Hanan Moore

13/1/2023 01:56:52 pm

I always love a good dog story. Delphine sounds like an amazing dog!

Tony

14/1/2023 02:16:28 am

Jenna--She was amazing. I'll never forget that day. Thank you for your comments.

Sue Clayton

14/1/2023 01:24:49 am

Delphine's mesmerizing canine ballet that had him rooted to the spot, but if Delphine appeared to be in trouble he would have become her principal dance partner.

Tony Covatta

14/1/2023 02:08:16 am

Well put Sue--and I hope you are right.

Pamela Kennedy

14/1/2023 08:06:53 am

By stepping in, perhaps havoc would have occured....but I'm sure if need be, he would have come to her defense.

Tony

14/1/2023 01:35:38 pm

I'm hoping he would have. One thing that came to me as I was writing the story is that the dog's life is much more basic than ours--at least for the fortunate among us. Dogs are closer to the edge, and often we are not willing to risk getting that close to it.

Thanks for your interest. I enjoyed your story as well.

Padmini Krishnan

14/1/2023 12:08:14 pm

Well-written story. Is it a real one?

Tony

14/1/2023 01:39:14 pm

Thank you Padmini. Delphine was a very real, very fine dog, and she really did have an altercation with three marauders--they may not have been mutts either. And Delphie did perform with admirable bravery. Some details were changed and others omitted to comply with the word limitation. (The companion laying into the attackers with a baseball bat was not one of them.)

Comments are closed.

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