Once again our “quiet sedate” pre-dawn walk was anything but quiet or sedate. Something was out there. Both dogs were on high alert. Orso had his head up with ears turned forward and at attention, listening intently searching for the intruder. Charlie always on the hunt had his nose to the ground and sucking up the strange new scent through his vast number of olfactory glands. He sounded like a vacuum cleaner sniffing and snorting sorting out the scent. His tail puffed out and the hair on his back stood straight up like a Mohawk. Orso scanned the dark road in front of us turning his head back and forth searching for a glimpse of whatever it was. Charlie jerked and pulled on the leash head still down following the hot scent getting more and more agitated as we walked.
I started to doubt the wisdom of our forward motion, thinking this is only going to end badly for us, or in reality, me. As we rounded a curve in the road, Charlie jerked his head up and turned to the right of us, lunged forward and growled at the dark. That’s when the hair on the back of my neck stood up too. Orso and I both looked in the direction of Charlie’s growled challenge, not seeing anything. Whatever was out there wasn’t showing itself and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Adrenaline was flowing in both Charlie and me now so I quickened our step in order to get up over the hill to where there was a street light and maybe get a look at what had Charlie so worked up. His “I want to kill something” instinct was definitely in overdrive.
By the time we reached the street light the scent had gone cold and Charlie started to relax a bit, as much as Charlie ever relaxes. I noticed that most of the hair on his back was laying down with only a tuft of hair at base of his tail still at attention. Maybe whatever was out there had decided not to tag along and track us in the dark. It took a little longer for the adrenaline rush to go away for me though. I was a little more on guard than usual for the rest of the walk.
I think I need to start carrying a light saber or bazooka maybe on our walks.
A woman's view of hunting...with men 
IT freaks me out when my cats freak out and I can’t see why! Usually it’s because they are wrestling with each other but a cat is LESS likely to RUN toward danger than they are to RUN TO STOP IT! So one must be alert!
Wow! Susan, what a thriller this.
Will there be a part two?
Thank you, it was very unnerving on the walk. I never did see what had agitated Charlie so much. Maybe that was a good thing.