I learned the meaning of the word "underdog" today on the morning
hike with Zima and friends. Zima, you will recall is a medium-sized
coyote who occasionally will come by for a hike. She has a lot of
canine friends in the area and often they will join us. Today was
no exception. We were joined by Ellie, an energetic, but small black-and-
white border collie; Bliss, a shy (among people she doesn't know)
dingo, Dusty a large ebullient sheepdog and Archie, a large red male
(all the others are female) labrador. Archie has been missing from
the pack this summer. His owner is a carpenter and brings his dog
by when he has a job nearby.
Along the way, big Archie started picking on little Ellie. By now,
Ellie is used to this, being the smallest dog in the pack, but then
Dusty and finally Bliss joined the friendly taunts. Zima watched this
for a few minutes and then went over to Ellie, positioned herself so
Ellie was underneath her and fought off the attacks from the other
three dogs. After a few nips, the other dogs got the message that
even small dogs can have powerful allies.
In this case, I suspect that Ellie didn't mind being the "underdog".