A male Retriever was the cleverest among his five hunting dogs. Now at eleven, he wanted to dispose of him, thinking it was a waste of time feeding him. “This dog’s been neutered and no longer useful.” He thought, “but shooting it would begrudge me from my wife.”  No matter how old, the wife gave special attention to this dog more than the rest for he was her favorite.

One day the man took him to the forest. They moved on farther where they have never hunted before. The man cut a long vine to replace the dog’s leash and hitched it to a tree to leave him there to die.

The dog seemed to comprehend and being an obedient dog that never complained, he lay there on the grass. Accepting his fate he watched his master, the man he loved and had faithfully served for a decade as he faded away. The dog cuddled himself close to the tree as it started to rain while the man walked double time heading home.

The rains poured as hard as the wind shook the trees and snapping off some branches. The man ran towards a tree while lightning missed it hitting another one nearby. There was zero visibility as the storm raged on. Cold and shivering, the man hang on as the storm died down after about two hours.  Horrified, he searched for his way home as darkness would eventfully fall. Through vines and thorns, he wasn’t able to locate the trail they had taken with the dog. In short he lost himself in the wilderness. He lost all directions and was now a stranger in a thick forest with the tree crowns shielding the sky view.

The dog got on its feet shook himself after the storm stopped and being a Labrador, had endured the cold. He sniffed the wind and caught his master’s scent carried by the wind from afar. He was sensing danger knowing well by experience that being in the forest at a storm was precarious. He tried to pull himself free, but the vines around his neck and chest were strong and tight. He nibbled on the vine until he was able to pull himself away from the tree.

Keeping the scent, he searched for his master who lost all hopes to survive. His hands and feet were numb from the cold and had nothing in him to start a fire. With the dog’s skill and experience, he found his master who lay like a dead man in the mud.  Feeling the dog licking his face, he stood on his feet trembling and gaining composure, started to walk slowly behind the dog.

The one he wished to kill was the dog that led him home…