Henrey the protector

Our beagle Henrey is a very good family dog. His main job is to patrol the back yard for signs of squirrels and cats, and watch our back alley for any disturbances. We have encouraged his growling and howling when there are people or cars in our alley.



So the other night when I was in the middle of Ryan's bath, I was not too surprised to hear Henrey howling outside. I wasn't going to leave Ryan's bath though because it's never anything serious, we just like that Henrey provides this service to us. As I was finishing drying Ryan off, Henrey came into the kitchen growling, so I knew I had to go check it out. With Ryan wrapped up in a towel in my arms, we headed to the back door.

Henrey stepped out his dog door, off the porch, and into the grass. There he crouched down and gave a low growl. Then I saw it... the blanket we'd been laying on that afternoon was still on the grass, and the corners had been crumpled up by the wind. As I approached the blanket and picked it up, Henrey let out a very loud howl to warn me about the danger.

I just had to laugh. Henrey had even been on that blanket with us during the day so he should have been able to tell what it was. He spent the next few minutes sniffing the ground where the blanket had been to be sure the danger was gone, and then he joined us inside as if nothing had happened.

He does his job so well...