A familiar voice greeted me on the phone…
\”Hello Dr Edward! We were wondering if you\’d like to come around for a cup of tea, and to check over our old friend. We don\’t think there\’s anything wrong, but we had something a bit scary happen yesterday…\”
\”I always enjoy a cuppa with you both, and I can be there this afternoon, by the look of it – about three o\’clock?\” I asked.
\”Sounds good, see you then!\” came the reply.
They were good friends, as well as clients. Many long and varied conversations had been enjoyed, and I was curious as to what had happened to their dog. I finished my breakfast, and took a quick walk on the beach with my own dogs, before heading out to the day. Eventually I pulled up in their driveway, and was greeted by the happy barking of their two lovely dogs. Two cold noses pushed in through the door as soon as I cracked it, and I was thoroughly jumped on. I fought my way out of the van, and chattering away to each other, we made our way onto the back deck.
\”What\’s up then?\” I asked. \”They look to be totally fine to me?\”
\”It\’s a bit of a story,\” she explained. \”We were out for a walk yesterday, and the dogs were off the lead. They were a bit of away ahead of us, sniffing about and having a grand old time. We saw a dingo, and the damn thing started play behaviour with our dogs, or so we thought. It was carrying on like anything, and our dogs started to be drawn towards it. The funny thing was, as they got closer, the dingo kept moving further away! Then we realised that there was another dingo hiding in the bushes, and that the first dingo wasn\’t playing at all, it was trying to lure our dogs in so it\’s friend could attack them. Well!\” She gave a big sigh… \”All hell broke loose at that point. We started running, and yelling, calling the dogs. We aren\’t the youngest, so we couldn\’t run very fast, and we were panicking. One of our dogs came back, and the other kept following the dingo, though she knew her friend had left, and had one eye on us, too. The dingo in hiding burst out of the bushes, and the one that was \”playing\” suddenly turned around and ran at her too. She spun around like a racehorse, and bolted for us. Those dingos chased her until they saw they us, then they both scarpered into the bush. Lucky our dog was fast, is all I can say. She seems fine, but they looked like they came close enough to touch her, so we wanted to have you check her out.\”
\”Goodness me!\” I said. \”That sounds like it was pretty stressful>\”
\”It was,\” Her hubby replied. \”Lucky we both didn\’t have a heart attack or something. Took us ages to calm down when we got home…\”
I examined her carefully all over, my hands seeking for any pain or wounds, but there was nothing to be found.
\”She must be the luckiest dog in Australia!\” I told them. \”I\’ve never heard of a dingo hunting dogs like that before. I\’ve seen quite a few dogs who\’ve been torn to shreds by dingos around here though, and more who\’ve simply gone missing, probably ended up in a dingo\’s belly, I reckon. I bet you won\’t let them run so far ahead any more, eh?\”
\”No fear, we will keep them a lot closer. I\’m so glad she\’s ok!\”
We enjoyed a long cuppa, and a far ranging conversation, before I took myself home to my little beach hut.