Our daily forays into the ravine trekking across the forest trails with Jackie and Jillie are mostly sedate affairs, relaxing and offering us all the opportunity to appreciate our natural surroundings. There are times, though, when drama intrudes of one kind or another to be dealt with spontaneously in response to the unexpected.

For the most part we're familiar with others for whom daily hikes on the intersecting ravine trails has become a leisurely habit, over the years. We're often surprised to see people we've never come across before, and sometimes with dogs, unruly or well-behaved as the case may be. Sometimes these are people we'll never see again, sometimes they are those who will occasionally and briefly enter the ravine for short circuits and with whom we acquire a nodding acquaintance.

Two days ago on one of the trails we were suddenly accosted by two very large dogs whom we hadn't seen before they were right upon us, approaching from behind. A bull mastiff and a black, equal-sized Great Dane/Lab mix we'd never seen before, both of which took an immediate and too-assertive interest in Jackie and Jillie whose shrill barking had alerted us to the presence of the other dogs, behind us.

Because of their intense interest in Jackie and Jillie, surrounding them aggressively, we weren't certain of their intentions, and there was no immediate presence of anyone who might control their actions, so we made an attempt to intervene, to keep the large beasts away from our cowering, distressed little ones, but the dogs were so large, their curiosity kept propelling them toward our two, almost knocking us off our feet, before their human companion finally appeared.

He said nothing, though we greeted him, and continued walking at a good clip down the trail, the two large dogs joining him, but before he was out of sight around a bend in the trail, returning to briefly resume their aggressive interest in Jackie and Jillie. It's likely the dogs themselves weren't aggressive but their sheer, overpowering size and muscled strength was intimidating both to us and our pups, and the incident was unsettling.

It's not that we don't often enough see dogs of that size being walked through the ravine, but these are dogs whose companions are accountable and personable and who make it clear they're in control of their dogs. Even so, the close attention these large animals give to our two fairly defenceless ones makes us just slightly alert in their presence.

Yesterday a drama of a different, but fairly similar sort occurred, when Nova, the 8-month-old white German Shepherd, whizzed up alongside us with an emotional greeting, obviously happy to see his friends. He thinks highly of Irv for feeding him bits of apple when Jackie and Jillie are being likewise indulged, and he picked up a sizeable stick to offer Irv as a gift, wriggling his rump happily. Rob, all 6'-6" of his considerable bulk, a former member of the Canadian military in his mid-60s caught up with his puppy and we stood together talking on one of the most beautiful early fall days we've yet experienced this year.

Along came a young couple walking toward us on the trail with their very small dog, a meek little thing, alarmed by Jackie and Jillie's usual barking greeting. Nova, hearing that barking, moved toward the small dog alarming it, so that it turned and sped back in the opposite direction along the trail -- Nova in hot pursuit -- ignoring in its fright, the calls of the young couple, who soon dropped what they were holding and ran speedily after their little fellow.

Rob authoritatively called Nova to return, and Nova, like all puppies out of sight and presumably hearing, didn't respond. Rob, who'd had heart failure some few years ago and was now wearing a Pacemaker to monitor his heart, wasn't about to take off after Nova, but after a few anxious moments, Nova re-appeared. Rob thought they'd all be best off with his continuing on, and we went on to follow the young couple's trajectory taking the leash, bottle and bags they had dropped with us to restore their possessions to them.

As we hoped, once they caught up to their little dog, they turned back to continue their circuit. The little dog, timid and frightened once again exhibited signs of stress on seeing Jackie and Jillie. An endearing little creature, we felt really badly for the cross between a Havanese and a terrier that he was. He wanted to be picked up and held for emotional security, kept well away from our two little monsters, and we could hardly blame them.

This time the shoe was on the other foot, so to speak.