And the answer is....

So what did you guess? What was Dear Dog barking so annoyingly at??

No, not that.

or that.

Sorry, try again...

You really want to know?

It was...

Wait for it...

... a caterpillar.

Yup. Huge anticlimax, right?

Big Brave Dog was scared of a small 5cm long caterpillar. It had dropped to the ground and was wriggling in between some leaves. Big Brave Dog was trying to paw it out from under the leaves, but was so scared of it he wasn't having much success.

Mommy to the rescue. By that stage, the poor caterpillar looked so done in that I thought he may as well finish the job. So I dropped it on the paving, and it was instantly pounced upon, and then dropped again. Then Big Brave Dog decided that, before Pathetic Dog got hold of HIS caterpillar, he'd better take it away somewhere else. Which he did.

I then noticed a second caterpillar, so, in the interests of fairness, thought I'd better give it to Pathetic Dog - who lived up to her name and was completely pathetic. A quick sniff, a quick mouthing, and then she quickly dashed off to see whether Big Brave Dog's caterpillar was nicer than hers. At which point Big Brave Dog decided that hers must be better than his, and wanted a swap.

At which point I got rather fed up, grabbed both caterpillars and hurled them both into the nether regions of the field next door. (No sense in leaving them lying around to chomp up more of my plants, right? and I don't have the heart to stand on them.... I know, I'm pathetic too!)

So there we are, ladies and gentleman. My Dear Ferocious Big Brave Dog, who wants to kill anything that moves past HIS gate, or on HIS road, or on HIS field, was scared of a measly little caterpillar.

The world is full of strange facts. And useless ones.