and then there were four

From the upstairs window I saw them, 3 small Terrier type dogs making their way across our field to the hen house.  Imagining the bloody mess about to unfold I dashed down the stairs through the kitchen, out the laundry door into the snowy yard.  When I rounded the corner of the coop what I thought I was getting into was a not quite what it turned out to be.  I had missed the large black Rottweiler leading the pack.

There are moments when you find you are short on choices.  For better or worse I was standing in ankle deep snow covering slick muddy ground in running shoes, shorts, and t-shirt facing 4 hungry dogs.  From the second they saw me the Terriers began retreating, walking backwards and barking.  But the waist high Rot without any warning lunged.  Before I had a chance to make up my mind about what to do my right foot connected with his open mouth.  The force knocked us both down, rolling him twice.  He scrambled to his feet growling, head low, hair high.  I wobbled to my feet, the impact of his tooth had sliced my shoelace in half, the fall knocked the wind out of me, and my already sore foot was throbbing.  He took his time to stare me down.  As I thought he was getting ready to come at me again he turned heading for the back fence in a careful trot through the clumps of grass.  
I followed only getting close enough for a good view of where they had come in.  They had ripped open the little 'rabbit gate' we had left for our free range rabbits to get back and forth between the horse pasture to our place.  

Slowly I made my way to the hole aware that the Rot had not gone very far.  He was sitting on the other side of the fence in the vacant lot watching me.  It took me a few minutes to find something to patch the fence, to error on the side of caution I closed the rabbit gate too.  The whole time I worked the Rot sat his eyes locked on me...I have a feeling I will be seeing him again.