Protector

We were hiking.
"Look," said Gregg.

Oh, uh, hey. Nothing to see here,

just move along...

I stopped to look at the whitetail deer about twenty feet off of the path, grazing. I handed Ray's leash to Gregg and took my camera out of my back pocket to get a quick shot. To get the deer's attention, I made a 'tchick' sound.
Ray, who had, as usual, been at the end of his 18' lead, stopped.
I took a few quick shots of the deer then noticed an unfamiliar weight leaning into me. I looked down to find a Redtick Coonhound attached to my leg; Ray was "looking" in the direction of the deer.

"The wind is in the right direction," said Gregg, "He must smell it."

Still attached to my leg, Ray yelled.

What the...?

Startled, the deer flashed white and turned away from us, then when Ray's noise stopped, relaxed the tail and turned back to look at us. On high alert, Ray yelled again. The tail flashed white; the deer headed into the woods.

I'm outta here!

I bent to pat my dog and tell him what I good dog he was.

I felt well protected by the blind hound, (or maybe he was seeking protection by me, I couldn't be sure).

We finished our hike, bundled Ray into the car and headed home. When we got there, we extracted Ray from the backseat and attached him to his frontyard tether. Ray found his sunny spot, rearranged the mulch along the front walkway to make it a bit more comfy, and collapsed, exhausted from his adventure of the day.

Byeeeeeeeee

What the heck was that thing?

Jeez I'm glad to be home