Running His Ass Off

I was cleaning up the horse manure from our land the other day toward evening and I heard a blood-curdling scream from the west side of our field. I looked up to see Jack, our donkey, chasing after my dog Lloyd. This may sound funny but donkey's are extremely protective of their heard and they will kill anything they think is a predator. It doesn't make a difference if it's a mountain lion, bear, wolf, or moose. Jack wasn't going to let our Bassett Hound, Lloyd, scare his corral mates Amie and Breeze ... even though their combined weight is over 3,000 pounds. Back to the chase. Lloyd was screaming at the top of his lungs and the foam was flying as it was beautifully displayed by the bright orange sunset behind him. I've never seen Lloyd run that fast. He was at full stride (like a greyhound) and only inches off the ground. The interesting thing was that jack was so close to him his head was actually ahead of Lloyds. I also was fearing for Lloyd's life as I was screaming out Jack, Jack as loud as I could while running with a manure rake in my hand. On the 5th Jack he suddenly stopped and let Lloyd's urine-soaked body make it through the fence and to safety. I yelled at jack and pushed him away. After consoling Lloyd I went back to jack to have a few words. He knew he was wrong. As I was scolding him he inched closer and closer to me nervously swaying his head back-and-forth looking for acceptance. Eventually he pushed his head and giant soft ears into my chest and begged forgiveness. Needless to say, I forgave him. A few days have passed since this episode occurred and Lloyd continues to push the envelope. You see Lloyd was here way before Jack and he feels he can go anywhere on this land and not have to worry about it. It one sense I'm afraid for Lloyd's safety and on the other hand I very proud of his courage.