My Hero

Over forty years ago, my first OES (Old English Sheepdog, for the uninitiated) was my constant companion as I left the small lights of my home town for the larger lights of the metropolis of Calgary.
It was my first job away from home.
Huge learning curve.
Something that my six-month OES puppy, Muffy, helped me with immeasurably.
In one way in particular.
Let me tell you about it...
You have to know that OES puppies get large.
Rather quickly.
And even at six months, Muffy was already the size of a good-sized black lab.
Just furrier.
Now the important part of the story . . .
I had gotten back to Calgary at around 1 AM. Yes, I know. I should have left home earlier.
Ahem . . .
I was unpacking my car at the curb in front of my rather run-down apartment house.
All right, it was clean and comfortable and affordable and had once been new.
The hour really didn't bother me. I had lived all my life on the ranch. Anyone walking around at that time of night was either checking up on a sick animal.
Or running the fox out of the henhouse.
Either occupation was totally harmless.
To any humans in the vicinity.
It didn't occur to me to be alarmed by the two men approaching along the sidewalk.
Hey, my apartment was, literally, right there!
Muffy spotted them, though, and went rigid.
Then she threw herself back against my legs, pinning me against the car and placing herself between me and the strangers.
Her head lowered, she glowered menacingly at the approaching men, a deep, vicious growl emanating from . . . somewhere.
I stared down at her in surprise. This was new.
The men were watching her as well and both of them slipped to the far side of the sidewalk and hurried past.
I'll never know what was in their hearts and minds that night.
If it was something awful, Muffy scared it right out of them.
Now the reason I am bringing this all back was because of what happened just today. With Pandy.
My newest generation of uber-protective OES. (See Above.)

Muffy would be so proud...