#baronyofthesilverwolf

Muppet is small, yes.

But Muppet, lest anyone forget, is a terrier.

Indeed, and terriers are not so easily pushed aside, and they can dig like no one's business, snow? HA, soft stuff

And the smell is passed about, and Gladiola waves the scented cloth like a street race flag girl "It's make your mama proud time, GO!!"

Ivan eager to prove himself barrels off in one direction, other dogs move in otther cardinal directions , each seeking to stake out a place

AND bred to hunt - badgers, foxes, otters.

Indeed, the guardian breeds may have mass and fur, but they don't have his instincts. They're going blind instead of searching for the nooks, the cranies.. the snow LOOKS mostly even, but there are tells

While other dogs sniff the snow tops... Muppet burrows through, stirring up the snow and...

stirring up a scent. THERE, the scent on the scarf.. the victm came this way

WAG.

Muppet runs with a bouncy, leaping bound. Stubby legs and high snow don't stop him!

(It snows plenty in Scotland, thank you)

Or even Ireland where the breed comes from 🙂

One of the bigger dogs sees he's onto something and moves to outrace him, but the dog isn't used to the soft terrain so it doesn't quite work. Besides, Muppet notices the scent direction has shifted

Fort, elderly though the wolfhound may be, darts lithely over the snow, easily clearing drifts through height and agility.

Indeed, Fort makes it look easy

Glass, Briar's bloodhound, gallops through the snow and stops to shake it out of her floppy ears. ACHOO! And, her head is shoved right back under the snow, sniffing all the good sniffs/

For once, it appears the favored Guardian breeds are falling behind... as Muppet, Fort, and Glass lock in on the scent and target... Muppet closest.

Fort soon catches up, Glass bays ... but the terrier is already digging where the victim lays under the snow , making a tunnel

A bound and gagged Madern shivers. He was given warm enough wraps but still

Snow flies!

"AWOOOO woooWooooooWOOOOO!" Bells Glass, joyfully calling everyone else over. A pack hunter, maybe she does not understand it as competition!

The terrier - normally almost silent - lets out a single deep bark, something one would expect from a much larger dog.

Fort reaches down, and gently grabs Madern's collar, LIFTING him up and out of the snow.

And then, drops him back down, possibly on his face. "Huff." He says, dignified.

Gwen heads over, calling the bulk of the pack off so the three get their credit, then says "Huh... but is he warm yet?"

Madern looks a bit blue himself

Muppet is worming around the piskie, but Muppet is SMALL.

Muppet is indeed, and he's kind of acting as a living muff and warmer

Glass washes his face!

Fort looks around, and gives a couple of imperative barks.

"You know what, I think you guys did the job. GOOD boy, Muppet. " She pets him, then "Nice work Glass." And then she notices the other dogs coming forward at FORT'S command. He does not pull Alpha rank often and she is curious where this goes

Soon, Madern might have a different problem. He's warm now, yes, but has over 700 lbs of dog piling onto him.

Gwen LAUGHS, "GOOD thinking, Fort" A gentle but digniefied stroke. "Good thing I brought more treats. " She gets one for Muppet, One for Glass, and another for Fort, before finally feeding the floofs "Okay, off him. Job done"

Wag!

She pulls the frozen Piskie up and pulls off his gag "If you steal my mom's box of chocolate chip cookies, well, that's understandable for anyone , especially a piskie, forgive the stereootype. Do you know what earned you Daireann vengeance?"

"Replacing them with raisin cookies and not telling you?" Madern 's teeth threaten to chatter

"REPLACING them with RAISIN cookies" She nods with a huff, and frees him

"Too late to say I'm sorry?" he manages Trolls are crazy.

"We're even" She says ignoring the ... possiblity, however slim, that only a Dairrean would consider this reasonable payback

"Thanks" He says and turns to go

Wag?

She pets Muppet, "You want another treat?" Then to Madern "Forgetting something. Thank the dogs for rescuing you."

Madernn sighs, then pets the dogs one after another "Thank you guys. Maybe I'll pour a bit of venison stew on your dog food, deal?"

Muppet licks Madern's hand. Wag!

Madern smiles at that and then heads to the kitchen

"Thanks, Madern, that's really sweet of you," Gwen says, possibly making Madern doubt her sanity.

He retreats to get warm and get that venison stew going

"Proud of you all," Gwen says to the dogs, petting each one, "Let's go play in the snow or go inside as you like."