As we walked, a van pulled up and a man got out. A tall man with an open _expression_. ‘I thought you should know there’s a pitbull on the loose.’ He pointed down towards the marina, down the hill we’d just walked up. ‘It’s been bothering some tourists so I called the police and they're going to look for it.’ His children had taken his place on the driver’s seat. They were all looking at us. A panting Fin was still as far on her lead as she could pull. ‘You didn’t see it down this road?’ I asked, pointing the way we were going. He said no and I thanked him. We passed a big house with a sign in the yard. Puppies for Sale. A nice distraction! We were hoping croon at the cute puppies when we saw cages at the side of the yard. With pitbulls. A man stood, hosing down one of the cages. We walked faster. 

A few minutes later, we reached the agricultural office; a small house on top of a brow. We made our way up. A ginger and white sheepdog lay in the office’s open porch. It saw Fin and raised its head. ‘Hello?’ I called. The office door behind stayed closed. We went back down to the entrance and tied Fin to a palm. By now the sheepdog was half-raised, eyes as tense as a rubber band. Oh crap. I looked around for a rock to throw. Since travelling with Fin, we’ve discovered this highly effective technique for repelling the unwanted attention of the canine. The office door opened. Thank goodness! A lady began walking toward the sheepdog. ‘Come here, While-Up,’ she was saying. While-Up however, was making his way toward Fin like an advancing lioness. Without being told, Delphine stepped backwards out of the way and I planted myself between the two dogs. ‘Go on,’ I said. Still no rock in my hand. Why were there no rocks on the ground?? The lady called, ‘He’s usually quite friendly!’ ‘Ok,' I called back, trying to herd this light-brown nosed dog who was trying to herd me back, ‘that’s good to know.’ Suddenly he took off. Around me. Delphine screamed. Turned out that Fin’s extendable lead is no hindrance in this situation. In fact, it looked very much like a black bear was loose in the bushes. For a few moments, everyone stood yelling. And then, just as quickly as it started, a ginger and white shape shot out of the entrance, took a sharp left and kept going. The woman shook her head stoically and went after it. I was still untangling Fin out of the bushes with Delphine's helpful instructions when she came back. 

‘Well she sure beat While-Up,’ the lady said. I nodded. Delphine nodded. There was no doubt that Fin had won that one. ‘So sorry about that,’ I said, ‘I think he may have just been trying to get past.’ The lady smiled. ‘No problem. He’ll come back when he’s ready.’ We went inside to wait for the vet. While-Up had been brought by people who wanted to euthanise him. ‘They didn’t want him anymore,’ the lady said, ‘but we couldn’t put down a dog when there was nothing wrong with him. So he became our dog.’ She smiled again. ‘We called him While-Up cause he was so wild, no one could touch him.’ She took out a large blue ball of wool and showed us her crochet project. A Peppa Pig blanket for her baby daughter. The vet pulled up in a pick-up truck. ‘She beat While-Up,’ the lady said without putting her crochet down. The vet bent down and stared into Fin’s soft brown eyes. Fin stared back at him. ‘Protecting your people?’ ‘Uh-huh,’ the lady said. I swallowed. ‘I heard there’s a pitbull on the loose.' The vet looked at me as if startled I knew. He nodded. ‘The police just called. I’m going to look for it next.’ ‘We couldn’t grab a lift with you, could we?’ ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Hop in.’ 

So without any more canine encounters, we’ve taken Fin across Sir Francis Drake’s Channel to…  Great Dog Island! No dogs on the island though…. just the constant bleating of goats. And while I’m sorry to say I have no pics of the gorgeous, sorry-for-itself While-Up and happy to have none of the marauding pitbull, I do have some of Great Dog Island. And the first scuba dive of the year! 

Love from Quest and her crew xx