Dachshund

Prompted by a Local Dog

Lee David Tyrrell
3 min readMay 11, 2023
Mabel, the pup in question!

A small brown blob, on four short legs, ambles towards its prey in the grass.

A proud snouted hunter, her wet nose aimed steadily.

This hero pup, an inspiration to dog-kind, has her eye upon intruders in the garden; little toads and bugs.

How dare they breach her territory like this, and threaten the foundations of her home; an invasion fleet!

A snap here, and a stamped paw there, and the earwig crusaders are a casualty of war. Loose ladybirds fly into their doom, scooped up by a masterful manoeuvre of the tongue. Toads run away, with greater sense than insect chums, and make it to the gate, where they thank their froggy gods. Otherwise, only butterflies survive the faithful onslaught of a dachshund, loyal in her canine duties.

With a caterpillar stuck between her teeth, take a moment to consider its predicament. The lush green of a garden is home to the creatures who claim it, and feed its fragile ecosystem. There, they breed, feed and fly amongst the pollen, ’til some great deity is freed from the kitchen. Every morning, and twice again at night, there’s a mad scramble back to burrows, hiding from the mammal.

The proud warrior shakes her rounded frame, and makes her way for breakfast; triggered by her appetisers. Though a valiant…

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Lee David Tyrrell

Fiction writer, mostly attracted to sci-fi and strange, experimental tangents. I’ve also worked as a music journalist for Clash, eGigs, eFestivals & C64 Audio.