On Saturday, there was a break from this dreary rain. I went to work in my vegetable garden. Lily did her work of keeping the squirrels off of the feeders and keeping the rabbits out of the meadow. Scooter did what he does – he sprawled out in the sun and relaxed. I was bent over the lettuces when I heard Lily do her alert bark. It wasn’t the “a dog is on the street” bark, or a “the FedEx truck is here” bark. It was a “there’s a predator” bark. I looked up just in time to see a very big bird flying not even ten feet off the ground, away from us and into the woods behind my small meadow. Lily stopped at the fence line. The bird did not. It couldn’t fly fast through the low branches, but it sure didn’t stop. I hurried out of the garden to look for Scooter. He was unconcerned and still having his sunbath.

That afternoon, we were back out in the yard. Lily came bounding and prancing out of the meadow. She had something in her mouth. I traded her a dog biscuit for it. It was a huge. The tip was damaged. I think that Lily must have just about caught that bird in the morning. I think it’s a wild turkey feather. They’re bad-tempered birds and can be aggressive. 

Here you can see how big the feather is compared to Scooter. He’s one lucky dog to have Lily protect him. GOOD DOG, LILY!