Encounter

Sometimes one has to write about things not because they are so interesting, but because they are so RARE.

I am up past my bedtime, and knew my dog and my foster both need a final walk. It is a break from my normal routine, and in fact, originally I thought to just stay within my townhome "yard".

Instead, I opted for a short walk with my canine charges, so crossed my driveway, passed the lee of the building next to us, and as we crossed their driveway, we all, almost intuitively stopped...all at once.

It wasn't anything I did, or anything my dogs did. As a unit, we all simply STOPPED. And we looked in the same direction. 

There, standing properly on the sidewalk on the opposite side of a building from us, maybe about 50 feet...reigned a Doe.

She stood there, staring at us, evaluating us even as we evaluated her. The dogs were transfixed, not barking, not lunging, but staring. I could hear the dogs' respirations increasing in proper tempo as they, by instinct, readied for the hunt. Still we stood there. I wished mightily for the camera but knew if I left the Doe would also be gone. It was best to enjoy this very moment as it was.

She turned and fled, and the dogs strained at their leashes, both letting out extended yowls proper to their respective breeds. While the sound of my German Shepherd was loudest, she pulled the least, and while the tones of my Whippet-mix foster dog were diminutive, he was the one who made it clear he would be the one who would capture the prey...if only allowed the freedom.

Instead of freeing dogs I knew I'd never get back if I let them go, I continued our walk, with my own hope of seeing the Doe again. Indeed, she stood in the field, watching us, so we approached, I half-dragged, half-encouraging the dogs. About twenty feet into the field, one of the dogs caught my attention, as he was staring  towards our complex.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but there stood a "pole" where a pole shouldn't be: at the intersection of our street and the main one that passed by, like an extinguished lamp planted dead center in the pavement.

With our attention she tentatively moved. With her movement the dogs shifted their predatory radars, and as she raced to join her companion, I could hear the rhythm of hooves on the pavement, even over the dogs' yowls, in spite of the strength required to reign in the predators who so desperately desired to pursue their prey....

Ahhh..that's not something one sees every day, not just one Doe, but two, and close enough to converse.

Had she been a buck...there might have been a charge involved.

Tonight, while the dogs kick and whine in their sleep, I suspect I may understand a bit more of their dreams.