Proudest Protectors

Rue and Finn

Returning to the parking lot after a hike, I prayed that a stranger who’d behaved oddly on the trail would be gone. I had to ask twice to pass by while my normally friendly dogs, Rue and Finn, growled. He said, “I’m looking at your dogs,” as if considering whether he could fight them off to get to me. As I feared, he was standing between our cars, the last in the lot, clearly waiting for me.

Rue and Finn snapped into protection mode. Anyone in his right mind would’ve backed off.

The man didn’t. He walked slowly toward me, so Finn lunged at the leash. Startled, the man leaped back. I quickly put Rue and Finn in my truck and raced away. An hour later, a police dispatcher informed me they had picked up the man, who was still waiting in the parking lot—probably for someone who did not have two German shepherds protecting her.

—Nancy Radebaugh

Utica, Ohio