Some weeks ago I kept seeing a story that I can’t seem to find anymore. A dog was guarding a flock or a herd, and after an attack on the animals the dog was watching over, it went missing for days tracking down a pack of wolves or coyotes and killing most or all of them. There was said to be a trail of dead pack members. The dog finally returned with one eye and possibly an ear damaged and went to the vet and then retired from guard duties after that.
The titles of these posts often mentioned revenge on the pack.
I’ve either accidentally exaggerated the story enough that when I find it, it doesn’t sound right, or I just haven’t found the right combination of terms to track down what I’m after.
I’m pretty sure this is the story you’re talking about.
Wow he’s a total 80s action movie hero, but a dog.
That is the one I found today, but I’m so sure that the herd of whatever the dog was guarding lost one youngling before the dog left the farm to track down the pack for revenge.
Again, I may be accidentally exaggerating the story.
It’s definitely Casper, the dog from the story the other commenter linked, but some of the people retelling the story already exaggerated it, so depending on where you read it, there might as well have been a “trail of dead pack members” or something similar in the retold story.
For example: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/brave-sheepdog-left-bloodied-after-28667161
Or one of the reddit posts relatively high up in the search results:
All of the actually trustworthy news outlets only mention that he was gone for two days and then taken to the vet once he returned, but not more than that.
Ah, yes, tracking coyotes and finishing the job matches with what I remember about the story. Thank you!