Back in 1982 my then husband was UA from the Navy.
We went back to Norfolk so he could turn himself in.
We stayed at our former neighbors’s apartment that night, having arrived too late to go to the base.
Hours later, that traitorous woman had called the MPs, the Norfolk and VA state police so she could collect the $200 “reward” for him.
She let them in and we awoke to a small living room filled with LEO who acted like they were there to catch Dillinger instead of a guy who had missed ship’s movement.
My Wonder Dobe, Tito, was in the bedroom which had French doors so he could see his mom being thrown to the floor by the jackboots so naturally he was raising hell and jumping at the door, trying to get out to protect me.
If I live to be a thousand I will never forget the sight of a VA SP raising his sidearm to SHOOT my dog who was still in the other room.
I’ll never know how I managed it but as he was about to pull the trigger, I slipped out of the grip of the cop pinning me down and sprung for the door, it open slammed it open and threw my body on top of my dog, knocking him flat underneath me.
I heard some other cop screaming “Stop! Don’t shoot!” because now the bullet would have to go through me first to kill the dog.
There was no thought or plan on my part.
There was no “ bravery”.
Just the sight of that sidearm coming up to point at my dog and a lot of adrenaline, I reckon.
He was going to kill him and I needed to save him, whatever it took.
It was a matter of a few seconds but seemed like forever.
I stayed there on top of my dog, covering him with my body, until they dragged the husband away and all the cops had left.
Flash forward many decades.
I was out with Hrafi’s sister, Seven, in the backyard one night and I looked down and there was a “red dot” on her side, exactly where you’d shoot a deer.
I jumped between her and the source of the dot somewhere northeast on the ridge beside my house and hustled her back inside.
It’s just what you do.
My son was going to take my mom and our 120lb wrecking ball of an American Bulldog out for a ride.
One of the semi-feral GSDs across the street decided to attack. By the time I heard the ruckus and rushed out my son had pinned our dog to the driveway and "turtled" over him to protect him.
It’s just what you do.
I was very proud of him.
I don’t think I’d be anywhere near as forgiving as you are.