Diary of a 21st Century nobody -Scaredy dog!

I love to walk with my dog and particularly enjoy walks in the woods near our home. On many of these walks we are joined by a dear friend of mine. We chat and laugh all the way, whilst the dog explores what's new on the fields and woods. Along our regular route we often have adventures of the equine, bovine and feline type, as well as the human ones too! Our route takes us along bridle paths, woodland, a beck and a road between one town and another, so we often meet the same homeowners, landowners and horse owners as well as other dog walkers.

There is a farm along our route and here lives a sheepdog that takes great pleasure in hiding between the dustbins and the house wall and then pouncing as we walk by, barking and running at us. She isn't vicious, and we know she is just protective of her territory and wants us to know that she is. So long as we walk by she will stop at the farm gate and then return to her hiding place. My dog is a little nervous of this dog as he approaches the farm -in fact, he runs past like the coward he is!

Today, however, we strolled by unmolested. No sheepdog. So, we continued down into the valley, with our dog running ahead as usual. After a few hundred yards we discovered the sheepdog curled up against a stone wall and looking to be in some distress.

Ramsay (my dog) stopped as he saw her, and ran back and forth in front of her as if to goad her into pouncing out at him. However, she just sat there staring out at him, looking most forlorn! Initially, my friend and I walked past but, as our conversation turned to concerns over her welfare,we felt that leaving her there without alerting her owner to the issue was not right. We turned back and re-traced our steps to the farm.

The farmer was leaving the house as we arrived so I called out "Excuse me,the sheepdog is yours isn't it?" He turned and smiled wryly, "Oh yes....Is she down the road?" he asked.

"Yes" I replied.

"Behind the wall in the bottom of the valley?" he continued

"Yes," I stated. "We wondered if she was ok."

"Ha ha", came the answer. "Yes, she's fine. She's a farm dog you know? You see her out here protecting the place and keeping everyone in line." We laughed and nodded in agreement. "Well," he added, "she's a farm dog that's afraid of the tractor! Every time we get it out and start it up, she races down the valley road and hides behind the wall......... She won't come back until we put it back in the barn and switch off the engine. She's pathetic!"

We joined him in his laughter and returned to our walk. As we passed her at the wall, still curled up by the hedgerow, we smiled and said hello to her. I could swear her expression had gone from forlorn to embarrassed as she turned away from us....Ha ha, - "busted "....!!

Ramsay positively swaggered past!!