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Pinto

By Sofia Galvan

As Frederick the Great of Prussia said, “Dogs are man’s best friend”. My grandfather and his dog, Pinto, were a great example for this well-known phrase. For as long I can remember, my grandfather always had at least five dogs in his ranch. There was nothing else that my grandfather loved more than his dogs. Every summer my family and I went to his ranch to visit him and my grandmother, I would find a new dog added to the family. But Pinto was the one dog with whom he had a very special bond. Pinto was brought to my grandfather’s ranch when he was just a little puppy and he was given that name by my grandfather because his black and white coat of hair made him look like a Holstein Friesians cow, which in Spanish are often called “Vacas pintas”. Although he was quite small, his duty was to always protect my grandfather’s ranch. Pinto was the father and leader of the later generations of his pack and was the first one to let everyone in the pack know if there was an intruder in my grandfather’s property, whether it was an animal like a coyote or stranger to the ranch. He always accompanied my grandfather to work and was always on the lookout for my grandfather. This dog loved and protected my grandfather as one could not ever imagine, but unfortunately his devotion costed his life. One day my grandfather had taken Pinto to the barn where he had all his cows because he was going to make a business deal with a man who wanted to buy a few cows for his farm. When my grandpa started to move the cows into the special truck to transport them, one of the cows started to get very stubborn and loud. When Pinto saw that my grandpa was struggling with the cow, he started barking at it from behind. The cow was startled by the barking, it started kicking his back legs, but Pinto would not back away, instead he got closer to it and barked louder but was then kicked by the cow so hard that it broke his ribcage and punctured one of his lungs. My grandfather ran after him, picked him up and took him to the dogs’ hospital, but it was too late, Pinto was already gone. My grandfather was devastated, we all were when we found out the news. This dog was very special not only to my grandfather but also to the whole family. He was the most humble, smart and loyal dog I had ever known in my entire life. And he was indeed my grandfather’s best friend, and will always be respected and remembered by every person that loved my grandfather.